LIBRARY   OF 

HENRY  C.  FALL 

AND  KATHARINE  A.  FALL 


Wumher  B  0  *3  . 


Date  of  Purchase 
Place    OA 
Cost 


^X. 


FANCTTHIST  . 


Bv     JACK     FROST 


a^«ux.<«$08«asftr. 
THE   CHURCH  THAT  FOOLS   THEM   ALL 


On.  "Bowdom  street,  directly  across 
from  the  State  House  arch  is  the 
intricate  Gothic  facade  pictured 
above.  There  is  hardly  a  person  who 
has  not  remarked  as  they  passed 
the  church  for  the  first  time,  "What 
a  very  small  church  that  must  be!" 

In  fact,  it  is  not  'til  one  is  way 
over  by  the  rear  of  the  capitol  that 
the  immense  edifice  which  rises 
above  this  small  entrance  becomes 
impressive.  The  angle  at  which  one 
views  the  blackish  front  on  Bow- 
doin  street  is  so  acute  that  most 
passers-by  never  spot  the  massive, 
red  brick  structure  which  is  the 
New  Jerusalem  Church. 

The  original  door,  before  the  top 
of  Beacon  Hili  was  cut  off,  was  al- 
most exactly  where  the  arched  and 
decorated  panel  now  is  above  the 
present  entrance.  A  great  staircase 
now  leads  up  from  the  entrance  to 
the  interior  of  the  church  above. 
With  its  nntrance  thus  dropped  sev- 
eral feet,  the  society  had  to  exca- 


vate another  cellar  for  the  heating 
system.  The  former  cellar  now  con- 
tains a  kitchen,  parlor  and  a  spa- 
cious, hall,  arranged  like  a  vestry. 
But  one  flight  above,  one  encounters 
the  purest  Gothic  architecture  in 
Boston,  in  the  main  church  itself. 

The  New  Jerusalem  Church  is 
now  84  years  old  (the  age  at  which 
Emanuel  Swedenborg,  after  whose 
doctrines  the  religion  is  modeled, 
died  in  London  in  1772).  The  reli- 
gious society  was  organized  in  1818 
with  12  members. 

Until  a  year  and  a  half  ago  the 
church  had  but  three  pastors,  when 
the  present  pastor,  the  Rev.  Antony 
P.  Regamey,  took  over  the  task  of 
guiding  the  congregation.  This  was 
the  first  society  of  the  Swedenbor- 
gians  in  New  England. 

The  diminutive  entrance,  squeezed 
in  between  two  tall  buildings,  is  in 
startling  contrast  to  the  size  of  the 
structure  and  the  spread  of  the  be- 
liefs enunciated  by  Swedenborg. 


LECTURES 


SYMBOLIC    CHAKACTEB, 


SACKED  SCEIPTUEES. 


REV.  ABIEL  SILVER, 

MINISTER  OF  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  CHURCH  IX  NEW  YORK. 


'  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  they  are  Spirit  and  they  are  Life. 
'  Without  a  Parable  spake  He  not  unto  them." 


TIIIRD    EDITION. 

BOSTON : 
T.   H.   CARTER   &  SON. 

1867. 


2.30- S/ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S63,  by 
ABIEL  SILVER, 

in  the  Clerk'e  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  South  m 
District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 


FROM  the  many  testimonials  which  I  have  received  of  the 
uses  which,  in  the  Divine  Providence,  these  Lectures  seem  to 
have  performed,  in  leading  doubting  minds  to  acknowledge  and 
receive  the  Sacred  Scriptures  as  the  Lord's  Holy  Word,  filled 
with  His  Spirit  and  Life,  for  the  salvation  of  human  souls ;  and 
leading  them  also  to  the  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  wherein 
the  "  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  Root  of  David,  hath  prevailed 
to  open  the  Book  and  loose  the  seven  seals  thereof"  (Rev.  v.  5), 
revealing  Himself  as  that  Spirit  and  Life,  and  thus  making  His 
Second  Advent  for  the  establishment  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  in 
which,  as  men  are  regenerated  by  the  Spirit  and  Life  of  the 
Word,  He  "  makes  all  things  new  "  in  faith,  doctrines,  and  life, 
by  means  of  the  Science  of  Correspondences  and  the  Revelations, 
through  Swedenborg,  of  the  laws  of  our  spiritual  being,  and  of 
the  realities  and  character  of  the  spiritual  world ; — I  say,  from 
having  abundant  assurance  of  this  happy  use  of  these  Lectures, 
and  feeling  my  own.  indebtedness  to  the  Lord  as  the  Word, 
through  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  for  the  clear  and  beautiful 
truths  contained  in  this  little  work,  I  have  been  stimulated  to 
print  another  edition,  revised  and  corrected,  making  such  altera- 
tions as  have  been  thought  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  any 


20511 


4  PREFACE. 

misunderstanding  of  the  mission  of  Swedenborg,  or  of  the  doc- 
trines presented  through  him. 

And  now,  praying  that  it  may  continue  to  be  the  means  of 
leading  inquiring  souls  to  the  One  Great  Source  of  Light  and 
Life,  now  opened  for  the  salvation  of  the  world,  it  is  still  offered 
to  the  public. 

ABIEL  SILVER. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

Reasons  why  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  of  God  must  sym- 
bolize a  higher  sense.     John  vi.  63 9 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  origin  of  Language,  and  the  law  of  the  Divine  Symbols. 

Ps.  xix.  3. .  29 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Scripture  Analogy  between  the  material  universe  and 

the  human  mind.     Zeph.  iii.  9 47 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  divine  law  of  life  between  God,  Man  and  Nature.     Ps. 

cxiv.  1,  2,  3 63 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  correspondence  of  birds  and  animals  to  the  thoughts  and 
affections  of  man.     Ezek.  xxxix.  17-20. .  81 


CHAPTER  VI. 
The  symbolic  meaning  and  use  of  Horses.    Rev.  xix.  11-14. . .     98 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII.  PAGE 

The  correspondence  of  Trees    to   the   things  of  the  mind. 
2  Kings  xiv.  9 115 

.   CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  symbolic  meaning  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth,  Sun, 

Moon  and  Stars.     Matt.  xxiv.  29. ..  .   131 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  in  its  spiritual  import — the  crea- 
tion of  man.     Gen.  i.  27 149 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  in  its  practical  bearing  upon 

the  regeneration  of  Man  in  all  ages.     Gen.  i.  28 166 


CHAPTER  XI. 

A  glance  at  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  at  the  making 

of  the  woman  of  the  rib  of  the  man.     Gen.  ii.  18-23. . . .   186 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  correspondence   of   Water,   and    the   divine   teachings 

thereby.    Rev.  i.  15 205 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  nature  and  character  of  the  Mosaic  deluge.     Gen.  viii. 
8,9 221 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  spiritual  view  of  Cain,  Abel  and  Seth ;  of  Cain's  wife, 
and  of  the  building  of  the  city  of  Enoch.    Gen.  iv.  17 . .  241 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER  XV.  PAGE 

A  general  glance  at  the  whole  subject  of  these  Lectures 

God,  Man  and  Nature,  and    their  relative  connection. 
Gen.  i.  1 257 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

How  the  Science  of  Correspondences  has  been  restored,  and 
the  Spiritual  Sense  of  the  Word  and  its  Doctrines  re- 
vealed. Rev.  xxi.  5 .272 


FINAL  LECTURE  ON  SWEDENBORG'S 

"CELESTIAL  ARCANA" 

Revealing  the  Internal  Sense  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,     or    the     Word    of    the     Lord. 

The  Christian  world  knows  that  certain  things  in  the  Bible  are  symbols 
of  Spiritual  things.  For  instance,  it  is  known  that  the  land  of  Canaan  stands 
ior  a  heavenly  state  of  Hie.  But  it  has  not  been  known  that  the  whole  Bible, 
in  every  least  part,  is  symbolic  of  spiritual  things.  Every  person,  place  and 
thing,  every  historical  event,  ritual  of  worship,  yea,  every  word  of  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  contains  a  deeper  spiritual  sense  or  meaning.  This 
deeper,  spiritual  sense  involves  and  concerns  solely  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  His 
Divinely  Human  things  of  Love  and  Faith,  and  the  manner  in  which  these 
things  of  Love  and  Faith  are  received  by  men,  in  their  regeneration.  This 
Internal  Sense  of  the  Lord's  Wore,  has  been  opened  and  rationally  manifested 
in  the  Writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  particularly  in  his  work,  "Celestial 
Arcana."  Therefore  it  is  now  possible  for  all  who  truly  desire  to  understand 
the  living  spiritual  meaning  of  the  Bible  to  enter  with  enlightenment  and  joy 
into  its  deepest  treasures.  Only  through  the  living  understanding  of  the  Spir- 
itual Sense  of  the  Lord's  Word  will  the  long  awaited  Kingdom  of  God  be  estab- 
lished in  and  among  men. 

The  last  of  a  series  of  free  public  lectures  on  this  subject,  by  the  Revs. 
Philip  N.  Odhner  and  Harry  W.  Barnitz,  ministers  of  the  Lord's  New  Church, 
will  be  held  in  the  Amsterdam  Room,  HOLLAND  HOUSE,  Mezzanine  floor. 
Eastern  Airlines  Building,  10  Rockefeller  Plaza,  on  Sunday  afternoon  at  lour 
o'clock,  December  10th.  All  are  invited  to  attend. 

Those   wishing   to   communicate   with    uc    about  the   Teachings    of   Swedenborg, 
write  to  "THE  LORD'S  NEW  CHURCH,"  215  GLENRIDGE  AYE.,  MONTCLAIR,  N.  J. 


CHAPTER  I. 

REASONS    WHY    THE    LITERAL    SENSE    OF    THE   WORD   OF 
GOD    MUST    SYMBOLIZE  A    HIGHER    SENSE. 

"  The  words  that  I  speak  unto    you,  they  are  spirit  and  they 
are  life."     (John  vi.  63.) 

WE  are  now  commencing  a  course  of  lectures  upon 
the  symbolic  character  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  or  of 
the  Divine  Language.  But,  are  we  truly  sensible  of  what 
we  are  undertaking  ?  Are  we,  indeed,  conscious  that 
the  language  we  purpose  to  explain  is  infinite,  that 
God's  words  must  contain  infinite  ideas,  and  that,  to 
fully  comprehend  them,  would  require  the  wisdom  of 
the  great  Jehovah — a  capacity  so  far  beyond  the  reach 
of  men  or  angels  ?  All  this  we  fully  believe.  And  we 
also  believe,  that  we  can  learn  to  appreciate  the  mean- 
ing and  force  of  God's  language,  only  in  degrees  ac- 
cording to  our  states  ;  and  that  we  can  do  this  properly, 
only  as  we  become  acquainted  with  God's  nature  and 
character.  For  if  we  would  enter  into  the  real  life  and 
spirit  of  any  book,  we  must  know  the  qualities  and 
character  of  the  author ;  for  the  real  author  lives  in 
his  words  and  his  works.  And,  as  from  the  language 
of  men,  we  are  introduced  to  a  knowledge  of  their 


10  THE    LITEKAL    SENSE    A 

minds  ;  so,  from  the  language  of  God,  we  may  become 
somewhat  acquainted  with  the  will  and  wisdom  of  our 
heavenly  Father.  For  God  lives  in  his  language.  The 
words  which  He  speaks,  "  They  are  spirit  and  they 
are  life."  And  that  spirit  and  life  are  God  Himself  in 
His  wisdom  and  love. 

But  what  is  the  divine  language  ?  In  its  broadest 
sense  it  is  everything  that  manifests  the  Lord's  qual- 
ities. He  is  the  author  of  everything ;  he  lives  in 
everything,  and  speaks  in  everything,  either  directly 
or  indirectly.  But  His  speech  is  understood  according 
to  the  state  and  ability  of  the  reader.  Some  see  it  in 
the  light  of  divine  wisdom,  and  understand  it  aright  to 
the  extent  of  their  capacity.  Others  see  it  in  the  light 
of  their  own  self-derived  intelligence,  and  understand 
it  not  as  it  really  is,  but  only  as  it  appears  to  them 
to  be. 

But  it  is  of  the  nature  and  character  of  God's  re- 
vealed Word,  rather  than  of  the  book  of  Nature,  that 
we  are  to  speak  this  evening  ;  and  more  particularly, 
of  the  reasons  why  that  Revelation  must  possess  a  sym- 
bolic or  spiritual  sonse  distinct  from  the  literal  sense. 
But  in  doing  this,  and  in  all  our  lectures,  we  shall 
aim,  not  so  much  at  the  profundity  and  depth  of  the 
divine  YvTisdom  and  Word,  as  at  its  simplicity  and 
plainness.  For  everything  perfect  and  divine  is  in 
itself  deep  and  obscure  ;  far  deeper  than  finite  minds 
can  fathom.  Human  wisdom  can  never  reach  the  start- 
ing point,  so  as  to  comprehend  the  full  cause  of  any- 
thing ;  for  Infinity  is  involved  in  that.  Our  efforts, 
therefore,  in  these  lectures,  will  be  to  simplify  and 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  11 

bring  the  real,  spiritual  things  out  from  their  secret  en- 
foldings,  into  the  plain  daylight  of  the  reasoning  fac- 
ulties of  man's  natural  mind ;  where  he  can  see  them 
in  the  light  of  science,  take  hold  of  them  with  the  arm 
of  his  judgment,  turn  them  over  and  about,  and  look 
at  them  on  all  sides,  in  the  relation  they  bear  to  one 
another,  to  man  and  to  their  Creator. 

Now  the  first  and  perfectly  conclusive  reason,  why 
the  Holy  Word  contains  a  spiritual  sense  within  the 
literal,  is  seen  in  the  law  of  analogy,  which  pervades 
the  entire  Word,  and  which  shows  the  relation  between 
spiritual  and  natural  things  ;  between  the  world  of 
mind  and  the  world  of  matter  ;  between  God  and  na- 
ture ;  between  the  mind  of  man  and  the  universe  of 
things.  But  this  argument  has  no  weight  with  a  per- 
son, who  is  not  acquainted  with  this  law  of  analogy, 
or  science  of  correspondences.  This  argument,  there- 
fore, we  cannot  use  in  this  evening's  discourse,  as  our 
lectures  are  designed  for  persons  unacquainted  with 
that  science.  But  it  will  gradually  present  itself  as 
the  truth  and  beauty  of  that  science  are  seen  and  un- 
derstood, as  the  law  is  applied  to  the  illustrations  of 
the  Word,  as  we  proceed  with  these  lectures.  For  the 
science  of  correspondences  is  the  great  rational  test  of 
the  divinity  of  th-3  Sacred  Scriptures.  By  means  of  it 
are  clearly  understood  the  history  of  the  Creation,  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  the  Fall,  the  Flood,  the  Prophecy  of 
Ezekiel,  the  Second  Coming  of  the  Lord,  the  Descent 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  the  wonderful  things  de- 
clared in  the  Apocalypse.  Upon  the  truth  of  this  sci- 
ence, as  an  infallible  key  to  the  otherwise  hidden 


12  THE    LITERAL    SENSE    A 

beauty  and  glory  of  the  divine  Word,  the  receivers  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  are  ever  ready  to  rest 
the  entire  question  of  their  new  religious  faith. 

Does  any  one  disbelieve  or  doubt,  that  the  Lord,  as 
the  "  Word,"  which  was  in  the  beginning  with  God 
and  was  God,  and  which  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  is 
now  actually  making  his  second  coming  in  the  spiritual 
or  internal  sense  of  the  Word,  for  the  establishment  of 
a  new  religious  order  of  things,  which  will  eventually 
bring  all  to  see  eye  to  eye,  do  away  with  all  sin  and 
contention  among  men,  and  really  make  all  things 
new  ? — I  say,  does  any  one  disbelieve  or  doubt  this  ? — 
Let  him  test  the  ground  of  his  unbelief  by  the  truth  or 
falsehood  of  the  science  of  correspondences.  We  court 
this  test  of  all  who  candidly  desire  to  understand  the 
Holy  Word.  For,  of  the  result  of  such  an  investiga- 
tion, we  have  not  the  least  doubt.  We  ourselves  (with 
thousands  of  others)  have  weighed  the  ground  of  our 
own  former  unbelief  in  the  same  balance,  and  found  it 
wanting.  And  all,  who  have  ever  sincerely  examined 
into  the  merits  of  this  science,  have  come  to  the  same 
conclusions,  and  alike  understood  the  doctrines  of  the 
sacred  Word.  The  reason  of  their  agreement  is,  that 
•correspondences  are  a  real  science.  For,  as  the  science 
of  geometry,  by  the  light  of  natural  truth,"  brings  every 
close  investigator  of  its  principles  to  the  same  results 
in  the  solution  of  its  problems  ;  so,  also,  does  the  sci- 
ence of  correspondences  by  a  higher,  and  yet,  equally 
philosophical  light,  bring  all  its  true  and  faithful  in- 
vestigators to  the  same  conclusions  as  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Word.  For  all  truths  are  eternal  verities. 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIKITUAL.  13 

They  are  ever  and  unchangeably  the  same.  About 
them,  when  seen,  men  do  not  differ.  It  is  about  false- 
hoods, and  where  truths  are  not  seen,  that  the  intel- 
lectual world  is  contending. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Word,  when  seen  in  the  light 
of  correspondences,  become  themselves  the  indisputa- 
ble evidence  of  their  own  truth.  This  is  the  reason 
why  the  students  of  this  science  agree  in  divine  things. 
And  it  is  the  very  reason  why  the  watchmen,  at  the  sec- 
ond corning  of  the  Lord,  are  to  "  see  eye  to  eye." 

The  science  of  correspondences  is  a  language.  It 
may  be  denominated  THE  language.  For  it  is  the 
sure  language  of  Jehovah.  It  is  therefore  a  living  lan- 
guage. It  is  the  only  language  that  has  spirit  and 
life.  It  is  a  universal  language  :  the  language  in 
which  not  only  the  Holy  Word  speaks,  but  the  moun- 
tains and  streams,  the  winds  and  the  ocean  ;  yea,  earth 
and  skies  and  universal  nature  with  her  ten  thousand 
tongues  are  speaking  to  us.  Does  any  one  doubt  the 
existence  of  such  a  language  ?  Let  him  learn  to  read 
it.  No  one  who  has  ever  learned  it  has  any  such  doubts. 
Does  he  say  no  one  ever  has  learned  it  ?  How  does  he 
know  that  ?  Thousands  of  persons,  entitled  to  re- 
spect, say  they  have  studied  it,  and  find  it  to  be  a 
most  sure  and  certain  language.  Where,  then,  rests 
the  weight  of  evidence  ?  Who  is  the  best  judge  of  a 
book,  he  that  has  read  it,  or  he  that  has  not  ? 

By  this  science,  the  Sacred  Scripture  is  convincingly 
proved  to  be  the  Word  of  the  Infinite  Jehovah.  All 
its  parts  thereby  blend  into  harmony.  The  darkest 
and  most  obscure  passages  are  opened  and  explained  ; 


14  THE    LITERAL    SENSE    A 

and  llv.-  simplest  portions  are  filled  with  profound  wis- 
dom. Every  passage  is,  indeed,  seen  to  be  "  Profitable 
for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness"  (2  Timothy  iii.  16),  according  to  the 
apostle's  declaration.  But  without  this  science,  has 
any  one  found  it  to  be  so  ?  If  the  Bible  was  given  by 
God  to  man  to  teach  him  something,  was  it  not  in- 
tended to  be  understood  ?  Has  God  endowed  man 
with  reason,  addressed  him  as  a  reasonable  being,  said 
to  him,  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together" 
(Isaiah  i.  18),  given  him  His  Word  as  a  rule  of  life,  to 
show  him  what  he  must  do  and  what  he  must  not,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  interspersed  throughout  the  Word 
thousands  of  things  which  he  can  never  understand, 
and  which  are  of  no  use  to  him  ?  Not  so.  Infinite 
Wisdom  has  not  so  indefinitely  expressed  Himself  that 
He  cannot  be  understood 

The  difficulty  is  with  man.  He,  by  a  false  and  evil 
life,  has  lost  the  pure  language  of  analogy  in  which 
God  speaks.  But,  by  the  divine  mercy  of  the  Lord, 
that  language  is  again  restored.  That  sublime  key  to 
the  inexhaustible  treasury  of  intellectual  wealth  con- 
tained in  the  Word  and  Works  of  God  is  now  merci- 
fully made  known.  The  great  seminary  of  scientific 
wisdom  has  become  accessible  to  man.  For  this  divine 
key  not  only  unlocks  God's  book  of  Revelation,  but 
also,  at  the  same  time,  His  book  of  Nature.  And  as 
we  are  thereby  conducted  within  the  veil  of  the  letter 
of  the  Word,  and  permitted  to  feast  upon  the  pure 
bread  and  water  of  life,  and  to  admire  the  glory  and 
beauty  of  that  divine  sanctuary  ;  so  we  have,  also,  a 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  15 

passport  within  the  veil  of  universal  nature,  where  we 
find,  enthroned,  pure  spiritual  philosophy,  expounding 
the  invisible  ligaments  which  unite  heaven  and  earth  ; 
elucidating  those  otherwise  incomprehensible  affinities 
which  exist  between  life  and  matter,  God  and  nature, 
the  mind  and  the  brain,  the  soul  and  the  body.  In 
passing  this  veil,  we  enter  the  School  of  all  schools, 
look  up  to  the  Teacher  of  all  teachers,  and  study  the 
Science  of  all  sciences.  The  books  we  read  are  the 
Books  of  all  books  —  the  book  of  Nature  and  the  book 
of  Kevelation.  They  are  books  published  by  the  same 
Author,  they  illustrate  the  same  principles,  and  lead 
to  the  same  conclusions.  Both  books  are  necessary  to 
the  proper  study  of  either.  All  the  objects  in  nature, 
are  so  many  indices,  pointing  to  the  history  of  their 
creation,  and  the  cause  of  their  existence  ;  and  refer  us 
for  information  to  the  written  Word,  to  which  they 
are  the  grand  concordance.  At  such  a  seminary,  with 
such  books,  and  such  a  Teacher,  we  may  obtain  heav- 
enly wisdom  and  feast  on  angels'  food. 

But,  to  a  mind  unimbued  with  the  science  of  corre- 
spondences, what  we  have  said  are  mere  assertions 
rather  than  reasons.  Let  us,  then,  assign  some  reasons 
why  the  Holy  Word  has  a  spiritual  sense  within  the 
letter.  And,  first,  it  is  because  it  contains  divine 
th  mghts  and  feelings,  which  are  infinite  in  wisdom 
and  love.  Xow,  the  literal  sense  is  in  man's  language. 
The  meaning  of  the  words  of  that  language  is  limited. 
Men  understand  their  full  import.  There  must,  there- 
fore, be  a  sense  within  and  above  the  literal  definitions 
of  the  terms,  or  it  is  the  language  of  men  only,  and 


16  THE    LITEKAL    SENSE    A 

not  of  God.  And  the  Lord  Himself  declares  that  there 
is  such  a  sense,  when  He  says  to  us,  "  The  words  that 
I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life." 
For  He  made  this  declaration  to  teach  men,  that  He 
does  not  mean  by  the  words  '  flesh  and  blood/  what 
they  are  defined  to  mean  in  man's  language  ;  but  that 
He  means  infinitely  more.  For  spirit  and  life  are  in- 
finite and  eternal  things  ;  such  things  as  He  desires  to 
feed  our  souls  with,  that  they  may  live  for  ever.  Now, 
if  we  know  that  '  flesh '  is  a  symbol  of  goodness,  and 
'  blood '  a  symbol  of  truth,  we  have,  at  once,  a  definite 
though  limited  understanding  of  what  the  Lord  there 
means,  and  it  is  highly  interesting  and  instructive. 
But,  otherwise,  we  cannot  distinctly  understand  what 
He  does  mean,  by  eating  His  flesh,  and  drinking  His 
blood.  And  the  correspondences  here  are  exceedingly 
beautiful.  Our  physical  man  is  composed,  principally, 
of  flesh  and  blood  :  our  spiritual  man,  if  in  order,  is 
composed  of  goods  and  truths.  Thus  ;  there  is  a  per- 
fect correspondence  between  the  mind  and  the  body. 
Now,  it  is  because  the  natural  substances,  of  which  the 
body  is  composed,  correspond  to  the  spiritual  substan- 
ces of  which  the  mind  is  composed,  that  the  mind  and 
body  can  be  united  and  exist  together. 

Again,  all  spiritual  life  is  by  means  of  the  union  of 
goodness  and  truth  ;  and  all  physical  life,  by  means 
of  the  union  of  flesh  and  blood.  Therefore,  if  we  well 
understand  the  science  of  correspondences,  we  may 
know,  from  the  fact  that,  as  the  drawing  of  the  blood 
from  the  flesh  produces  physical  death  ;  so,  also,  the 
separation  of  goodness  and  truth  in  the  mind  produces 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  17 

spiritual  death.  "We  must  love  tlie  truth,  or  die  spir- 
itually. And  so  the  natural  things  which  we  eat  and 
drink  to  supply  flesh  and  blood  to  the  physical  man 
and  keep  it  alive,  have  their  perfect  correspondences  in 
the  goods  and  truths  which  the  Lord  says  the  mind 
must  eat  and  drink,  or  have  no  life  in  it.  Thus,  with 
this  scientific  light,  the  mind  is  illuminated,  the  soul 
cheered,  and  the  heart  refreshed  ;  but  without  it,  that 
beautiful  Scripture  is  involved  in  clouds  of  uncertainty, 
and  its  richest  blessings  are  unenjoyed.  And  when  we 
further  know,  that  evils  and  falsities  are  goods  and 
truths  perverted,  and  that  such  substances,  when  taken 
into  the  mind,  poison  the  affections  and  thoughts,  and 
make  the  soul  diseased,  we  may  also  know  that  the 
poisonous  substances  of  the  earth,  to  which  those  evils 
and  falsities  correspond,  will,  when  taken  into  the 
body,  make  it  also  sick  and  diseased.  '  Flesh  and 
blood/  therefore,  when  mentioned  in  the  Word,  may 
mean,  either  things  good  and  true,  or  things  evil  and 
false,  according  to  the  sense  in  which  they  are  used. 
With  this  scientific  light  in  the  mind,  the  true  use  of 
the  words  '  flesh  and  blood/  wherever  expressed 
throughout  the  entire  Word,  may  be  readily  seen  ;  and 
thus,  Scripture,  otherwise  dark  and  obscure,  will  emit 
a  clear  and  certain  light. 

Now,  there  is  much  said,  in  the  Word,  of  '  blood/ 
and  of  '  innocent  blood  /  of  l  shedding  innocent  blood;' 
of  '  taking  away  innocent  blood;'  of  '  condemning  inno- 
cent blood;'  of  '  putting  awny  the  guilt  of  innocent 
blood;'  of  '  betraying  innocent  Mood;'  of  'sinning 
against  innocent  blood.'  And  yet,  there  can  be  no  such 


18  THE   LIT.EBAL   SENSE   A 

thing  as  innocence,  or  guilt,  in  material  blood,  This, 
everybody  must  know.  All  understand  that  it  is  the 
mind  that  is  innocent,  and  not  the  blood.  Blood  is 
therefore  used  because  it  denotes  a  living  principle  of 
the  mind.  _|_And  it  is  only  because  truth  filled  with 
love  is  the  very  life  of  an  innocent  mind,  and  blood,  as 
the  life  of  the  body  corresponds  to  that  life,  that  the 
blood  of  such  a  person  is  said  to  be  innocent.  It  is 
declared  in  Isaiah  that,  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord  is 
filled  with  blood" — an  expression  which  strikes  terror 
to  many  minds  ;  and  yet,  its  real  meaning  is  beautiful 
and  consoling.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  always  signi- 
fies the  divine  truth  of  the  Word,  in  its  powers  to  con- 
quer and  destroy  evils  and  falsities.  Therefore  a 
sword  is  said  to  go  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  be- 
cause he  speaks  the  truth.  "  The  sword  of  the  adver- 
sary," mentioned  in  the  Word,  signifies  falsehood.  For 
the  Devil  is  "  A  liar,  and  the  father  of  it."  Then  the 
phrase,  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord  is  filled  with  blood," 
would  read,  by  correspondence,  "  The  truth  of  the 
Word  is  filled  with  life."  Sword  denoting  truth,  and 
blood  life. 

Another  reason  why  the  Word  must  contain  a  spir- 
itual sense  is,  because,  without  it,  that  Word  seems,  in 
many  places,  to  directly  contradict  itself,  and  cannot 
be  reconciled,  but  by  the  spiritual  sense.  But  in  the 
light  of  the  spiritual  sense,  all  is  made  rational  and 
clear,  beautiful  and  instructive.  For  example,  the 
Lord  commands  us,  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill ;" 
and  yet,  he  says  again,  "  Cursed  be  he  that  keepeth 
back  his  sword  from  blood,"  (Jer.  xlviii,  10.)  Both 


SYMBOL   OF   THE   SPIRITUAL.  19 

passages  are  full,  open,  and  unqualified  ;  and  are  ap- 
plicable to  every  man.  Without  the  spiritual,  sense 
they  cannot  be  reconciled.  But  by  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences, we  see  that,  besides  the  death  of  the  nat- 
ural body,  there  are  two  kinds  of  death,  two  kinds  of 
life,  and  two  kinds  of  killing,  treated  of  in  the  Word. 
There  is  the  life  of  the  love  of  good,  and  the  life  of  the 
love  of  evil :  one  is  heavenly  life,  and  the  other  is  hel- 
lish life.  If  we  die  unto  the  love  of  good,  we  become 
alive  unto  the  love  of  evil  :  this  was  the  fall  of  man. 
And  so,  if  we  die  unto  the  love  of  evil,  we  become  alive 
unto  the  love  of  good  :  this  is  regeneration.  There- 
fore, the  Lord  says,  "  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall 
lose  it  :  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall 
find  it."  (Matt.  x.  39.)  That  is,  he  that  findeth  his 
spiritual  life,  shall  lose  his  selfish  life  :  and  he  that 
loseth  his  selfish  life  for  the  Lord's  sake,  shall  find  his 
true  spiritual  life.  Then,  if  we  remember  that  blood, 
which  is  the  life  of  the  body,  and  corresponds  to  the 
life  of  the  soul,  may,  when  mentioned  in  the  Word, 
denote  either  hellish  life  or  heavenly  life,  according  to 
the  sense  in  which  it  is  used,  we  shall  at  once,  see  the 
truth  and  the  harmony  of  the  two  contradictory  passa- 
ges mentioned  above.  In  the  first — "  Thou  shalt  not 
kill,"  we  are  commanded  not  only  not  to  kill  the  body, 
but  also,  not  to  destroy  any  principle  of  goodness  or 
truth  in  the  soul  :  in  the  second,  "  Cursed  be  he  that 
keepeth  back  the  sword  from  blood,"  we  are  taught, 
that,  unless  we  conquer  our  evils — unless  we  shed  the 
blood  o  f  our  carnal  life — our  love  of  self,  by  the  sword 
of  the  spirit — the  divine  truth — we  shall  be  lost,  or  be 
cursed. 


20  THE   LITERAL    SENSE    A 

Again,  we  read  in  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  cc  They  that 
take  the  sword,  shall  perish  with  the  sword,"  and  also, 
the  Lord  says,  "  He  that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  sell 
his  garment  and  buy  one."  (Luke  xxii.  3G.)  Now,  this, 
in  the  letter  alone,  is  strange  teaching.  Who  can 
know  what  it  means  ?  We  answer,  No  one,  without 
the  spiritual  sense.  Who  can  see  why  the  Lord  should 
command  us  to  sell  our  garment  and  buy  a  sword,  to 
perish  with  ?  Men  may  say  it  is  figurative  language. 
And  they  will  interpret  the  figures  differently,  accord- 
ing to  their  several  tastes.  But  they  must  rest  in  un- 
certainty, till  they  see  the  spiritual  sense.  Then,  they 
will  have  no  doubt  of  its  meaning.  For  that  sense  is 
definite  and  sure,  reasonable  and  clear.  "  They  that 
take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword,"  therefore, 
means,  that,  They  that  take  the  sword  of  the  adversary, 
or  falsity,  and  use  it,  will,  by  continuing  their  false- 
witnessing,  destroy  everything  truthful  and  good  in 
their  souls  ;  and  thus  they  will  perish  with  the  sword. 
While,  on  the  other  hand,  he  that  has  not  commenced 
the  regenerate  life,  who  has  no  true  sword  of  the  spirit, 
must  sell  his  garment  of  self-righteousness,  must  put 
away  his  filthy  rags  of  covetousness  and  sin,  and  buy 
the  sword  of  truth.  Garments,  which  are  the  clothing 
of  the  body,  denote  the  outermost  deportment,  or  cloth- 
ing of  the  mind.  And  the  outermost  things  of  the 
sinful  mind,  are  its  most  external,  selfish,  and  worldly 
thoughts  and  actions.  These  must  be  put  away  before 
we  can  fully  possess  the  sword  of  the  spirit  in  our 
heart. 

Again  in  Isaiah,  the  Lord  declares  of  His  church 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIKITUAL.  21 

that  "  They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plow-shares, 
and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks  ;  nation  shall  not 
life  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn 
war  any  more."  But  soon  after,  in  Joel,  He  says, 
"  Prepare  war  ;  beat  your  plow-shares  into  swords,  and 
your  pruning-hooks  into  spears,  and  let  the  weak  say, 
I  arn  strong."  Now,  God's  Word  is  universal,  reach- 
ing to  all  men.  These  commands  are  as  applicable  to 
us  as  they  were  to  the  Israelites  and  the  Gentiles. 
How  shall  we  obey  them  ?  They  command  us,  in  the 
letter,  to  do  two  diametrically  opposite  things.  And 
a  command  to  do  one  thing  forbids  us  to  do  the  oppo- 
site. In  the  covenant  to  love  our  neighbor,  we  are 
bound  not  to  hate  him.  The  command,  not  to  lie,  in- 
cludes the  behest  to  tell  the  truth.  We  must  there- 
fore look  beyond  the  letter  to  find  what  God  would 
here  teach  us.  But  from  what  we  have  already  said 
of  the  sword,  it  may  readily  be  seen,  that  the  swords 
and  spears  which  we  are  to  beat  into  plow-shares,  and 
pruning-hooks,  must  be  the  swords  and  spears  of  the 
adversary,  or  false  principles.  But  what  are  the  plow- 
shares and  pruning-hooks  which  we  are  to  have  in  their 
stead  ?  The  plow-shares  must  be  those  divine  truths 
which  will  penetrate  deep  into  the  heart,  and  bring  on 
a  thorough  repentance,  and  thereby  plow,  or,  as  it  is 
called  in  the  Word,  "  Break  up  the  fallow-ground  of 
the  heart,"  that  the  seeds  of  truth  may  be  sown  in  an 
humble  and  contrite  soil.  And  the  pruning-hooks  are 
those  watchful  and  corrective  truths  of  the  Word  with 
which  we  may  notice,  and  cut  off  the  dead  and  unfruit- 
ful branches  from  the  tree  of  our  life.  But  what,  then; 


22  THE    LITEEAL    SENSE   A 

are  the  plow-shares  and  pruning-hooks  which  we  are 
commanded  to  beat  into  swords  and  spears  ?  They 
are,  of  course,  the  very  opposites  of  the  others.  The 
plow-shares  are  those  false  and  contentious  principles, 
which  plow,  or  stir  up  the  selfish  feelings  or  soil  of  the 
natural  heart,  engendering  strife  and  ill-will,  and  thus, 
preparing  the  ground  to  receive  new  and  fresh  seeds  of 
falsehood  and  selfishness.  And  the  pruning-hooks  are 
those  principles,  opposed  to  truth  and  virtue,  which 
are  always  ready  to  prune  from  the  tree  of  spiritual 
experience,  every  good  shoot  it  may  send  forth.  The 
false  plow-shares  and  pruning-hooks  of  the  mind,  must 
be  converted  into  swords  of  truth,  and  spears  of  wis- 
dom, wherewith  we  may  fight  against  the  headstrong 
evils  of  humanity  and  subdue  them. 

Again,  David  prays  that  the  Lord  will  scatter  all 
those  that  delight  in  war ;  and  yet  he  also  says, 
"  Blessed  be  the  LORD  my  strength,  who  teacheth  my 
hands  to  war,  and  my  fingers  to  fight."  (Ps.  cxliv.  1.) 
These  literal  contradictions  contain  within  them,  spir- 
itual harmonies,  which  the  science  of  correspondences 
only  can  reveal.  By  that  science  we  see  that  David 
desires  that  the  Lord  would  scatter  all  the  wicked  spir- 
its and  evil  principles  that  delight  to  war  against 
things  good  and  true,  and  that  he  blessed  the  Lord  for 
teaching  him,  by  the  truth,  how  to  fight  against  those 
evil  influences.  In  all  David's  prayers  to  the  Lord  to 
destroy  his  enemies,  he  never  means  persons,  but  the 
evils  which  are  in  them  and  in  himself.  There  is  not 
a  syllable  in  all  the  Psalms,  when  their  true  light  is 
seen,  that  contradicts  that  beautiful  precept  of  our 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  23 

Lord  which  says,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them 
which  curse  you."  But  this  love  has  relation  to  the 
persons,  and  not  to  their  evil  principles.  Evil  princi- 
ples with  their  falsities  are  the  only  things  to  be  hated. 
Against  them  our  faces  should  be  firmly  set,  wherever 
they  are. 

Again,  we  are  expressly  commanded  in  the  Word  to 
Honor  our  father  and  mother  ;  and  yet  the  Lord  as 
expressly  says,  that  if  we  do  not  hate  them  we  cannot 
be  His  disciples.  Now,  without  the  spiritual  sense, 
these  statements  are  perfectly  inexplicable  ;  no  light 
has  ever  been  thrown  upon  them,  or  evolved  from 
them  ;  nor  can  there  be  any  without  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences. We  must  see  that  the  Bible,  in  its  most 
essential  meaning,  treats  of  mental  and  spiritual  things, 
and  that  pure,  virtuous  minds,  or  such  principles  of  the 
mind,  must  have  the  divine  Love  and  Wisdom  for  their 
Father  and  Mother.  God,  in  the  unity  of  his  love  and 
wisdom  begets  them  ;  and  therefore,  they  are  called 
children  of  God:  while  on  the  other  hand,  corrupt  and 
depraved  minds,  or  such  principles  of  the  mind,  must 
have  evil  and  falsity  for  their  father  and  mother.  The 
Devil,  or  the  love  of  evil  and  falsity  in  the  complex,  in 
the  union  of  their  ill-will  and  deceptiveness,  begets  or 
perverts  them  ;  and  therefore  they  are  called  children 
of  the  Devil.  Thus  heavenly  Love  and  Wisdom  are 
the  Father  and  Mother  we  must  honor  ;  and  hellish 
evil  and  falsity  are  the  father  and  mother  we  must  hate 
and  forsake  ;  while  our  own  natural  parents,  and  all 
human  beings,  we  must  love  and  try  to  do  them  good. 

Again,  the  joyous  song  of  the  angels  at  the  birth  of 


24  THE    LITERAL    SENSE    A 

our  Lord  was,  "  On  earth  peace,  good  will  toward 
men  ;"  and  yet,  the  Lord  says,  "  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  send  peace  on  the  earth  :  I  came  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword."  In  the  spiritual  light,  these  an- 
gels and  the  Lord  are  both  seen  to  be  in  harmony.. 
The  Lord  is  indeed  the  Prince  of  Peace  ;  and  yet  He 
is  a  God  of  war  and  of  vengeance.  But  his  warfares 
and  vengeance  are  not  against  men,  but  against  their 
evils.  Thus  He  comes  to  send  the  sword  of  truth  that 
we  may  have  peace  through  victory  over  our  evils. 
For  without  the  truth  we  can  never  know  peace. 

Again,  it  is  written  in  the  Holy  Word  that,  "  It  re- 
pented the  Lord  that  He  had  made  man  on  the  earth, 
and"  that  "  it  grieved  Him  at  His  heart."  It  is  also 
written,  that  ' c  God  is  not  a  man  that  He  should  lie, 
nor  the  son  of  man  that  He  should  repent."  Now, 
how  could  Infinite  Wisdom,  Goodness  and  Perfection 
grieve  ?  How  could  He  who  knew  all  things  from  the 
beginning,  and  does  all  things  right,  do  anything  to 
repent  of  ?  How  could  Infinity  and  Immutability — 
He  who  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever — 
how  could  He  repent  ?  His  ways  are  not  as  our  ways, 
nor  are  His  thoughts  as  our  thoughts.  It  is  an  appa- 
rent truth  that  God  repents  and  grieves  ;  those  emo- 
tions can  be  felt  only  by  man  ;  and  when  mentioned  in 
reference  to  God  they  mean  His  mercy.  The  very  es- 
sence of  true  repentance  and  grief  are  mercy  and  com- 
passion. These  heavenly  emotions  belong  to  the  Lord. 

In  order  to  bring  the  letter  of  the  Word  down  to 
the  states  of  wicked  men,  God  is  often  represented  as 
being  not  what  He  really  is,  but  rather,  what  He  ap- 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  25 

pears  to  them  to  be.  For  this  purpose  He  is  repre- 
sented as  possessing  the  depraved  passions  of  men  ;  is 
said  to  be  angry,  wrathful  and  revengeful.  And  it  is 
often  asked  by  persons  who  begin  to  see  that  those 
qualities  cannot  belong  to  a  Being  who  is  Love,  why 
the  Word  was  so  written.  And  we  answer,  It  was  for 
the  wisest  and  best  of  purposes.  It  was  so  written 
that  it  might  be  capable  of  teaching  poor,  natural, 
fallen,  wrathful,  revengeful  man  the  way  of  life  and 
salvation.  To  teach  another  we  must  come  to  his 
state,  to  the  sphere  of  his  understanding,  to  his  lan- 
guage and  mode  of  expression.  Now,  an  angry  man 
will  believe  those  angry  with  him,  who  oppose  him. 
He  who  will  get  angry  at  his  children  for  disobeying 
him,  or  seek  persecution  and  revenge  upon  those  he 
thinks  his  enemies,  would  suppose  that  his  God  would 
do  the  same  :  and  he  would  think  it  right  that  God 
should  be  angry  and  punish  his  enemies.  This  man, 
God  comes  to,  in  his  Holy  Word,  according  to  his 
state.  He  warns  him  to  "  Flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come,"  and  threatens  him  with  damnation  in  hell. 
At  the  same  time  He  kindly  tells  him  how  to  avoid 
these  evils.  He  commands  him  not  to  steal,  covet, 
and  so  forth.  Now,  the  natural,  wicked  man  knows 
it  is  wrong  to  steal,  or  deceive.  He  would  punish  any 
one  that  would  steal  from  him.  And  in  seasons  of 
mourning,  sickness,  or  other  afflictions,  he  hears  the 
Holy  Word  preached,  and  his  -own  character  comes  up 
before  him  in  a  light  which  makes  him  shudder.  He 
is  afraid  of  the  wrath  to  come,  because  he  feels  guilty 
and  thinks  he  deserves  it,  and  in  a  spirit  of  repentance, 

2 


26  THE    LITERAL    SENSE    A 

he  begins  to  amend  his  life  and  plead  for  mercy.  Here, 
"  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom." 
But  as  he  progresses,  he  gets  the  love  of  God  which 
casteth  out  fear,  and  he  now  finds  that  God  was  not 
angry,  but  loved  him  all  the  while  ;  that  it  was  his 
own  opposition  to  God  which  made  it  appear  as  though 
God  were  opposed  to  him,  and  which  is  the  reason 
why  the  Word  was  so  written. 

The  words  which  the  Lord  speaks,  they  are  spirit 
and  they  are  life.  But,  for  the  natural  man  to  see  and 
understand  anything  of  that  spirit  and  life,  they  must 
be  brought  down  into  man's  common  words,  as  vessels 
or  symbols  through  which  they  can  be  apprehended  by 
analogy.  And  though  those  words  have  a  literal  mean- 
ing, and  may  give  a'  correct  literal  history  of  events  in 
this  world,  yet  they  also  teach,  by  correspondences,  a 
spiritual  history  of  things  in  the  world  of  mind.  The 
human  words  are  so  selected  and  arranged  by  divine 
wisdom  as  to  contain  this  spiritual  sense.  And  in 
many  instances,  the  literal  events  mentioned  are  only 
appearances,  not  realities,  and  are  given  for  the  sake 
of  the  spiritual  sense. 

We  should  bear  in  mind,  that  we  are  in  a  world  of 
appearances,  that  the  real  world  is  out  of  sight  ;  that 
in  this  world  we,  to  a  great  extent,  speak  according  to 
appearances.  If  we  did  not  so  speak,  we  could  not  be 
understood  by  the  generality  of  mankind.  We  speak  of 
looking  through  miles  of  space,  and  of  beholding  the 
mountains  and  the  spread-out  landscape;  and  so  it  ap- 
pears ;  while  the  reality  is,  that  the  image  of  the  land- 
scape is  brought  by  the  light,  and  pictured  upon  the 


SYMBOL    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL.  27 

retina  of  the  eye.  We  have  looked  through,  no  space. 
We  see  not  beyond  the  skin  of  our  eyes.  So,  we  speak 
of  hearing  the  thunder  from  the  clouds;  but  the  drum 
of  the  ear  makes  the  noise.  We  speak  of  the  blue  arch 
of  heaven,  the  vaulted  skies,  the  revolving  stars,  and 
the  setting  sun  :  but  there  is  no  arch  there  ;  the  stars 
are  stationary  bodies  ;  and  the  sun  does  not  set.  We 
talk  of  the  colors  of  objects;  but  the  colors  are  from 
the  varied  positions  of  the  rays  of  light.  Things  have 
no  color.  And  the  Holy  Word  speaks  of  such  things, 
according  to  appearances,  because  men's  states  re- 
quire it. 

Now  to  come  to  the  reality  of  even  these  natural 
things  we  must  have  science.  What  do  we  know  of 
nature  without  science  ?  And  yet,  God's  Word  comes 
to  us,  clothed  in  the  habiliments  of  nature.  It  treats 
of  invisible  things.  It  teaches  the  nature  and  charac- 
ter of  the  Invisible  God,  of  our  own  invisible  being, 
and  of  the  laws  of  the  invisible  world  ;  so  that  "Jhe 
invisible  things  of  God,  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that 
are  made,  even  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead."  But 
the  Word  cannot  possibly  teach  this  without  science. 
The  invisible  things  of  God  cannot  be  seen  through 
the  things  that  are  made  without  the  science  of  corres- 
pondences, any  more  than  we  can  understand  the  plan- 
etary systems  without  the  science  of  astronomy.  For, 
as  we  cannot  understand  the  deceptive  appearances  in 
God's  book  of  Nature  without  the  deductions  of  natu- 
ral science,  so,  neither  can  we  understand  the  apparent 
discrepancies  and  contradictions  in  God's  book  of  Rev- 


28  THE    LITEKAL    SENSE    A    SYMBOL,  ETC. 

elation  without  the  spiritual  science  of  corresponden- 
ces. And  all  who  rightly  study  the  Word  by  that  sci- 
ence, alike  receive  the  true  doctrines  of  the  Word,  with 
as  much  certainty  and  harmony  of  sentiment,  as  they 
can  the  problems  of  Euclid,  or  any  other  scientific  de- 
ductions. 

We  have  endeavored,  in  this  discourse,  to  advance 
some  reasons  why  the  Word  of  God  must  have  a  spir- 
itual sense,  and  to  show  that  dark  and  contradictory 
passages  can  thereby  be  reconciled  and  made  plain. 
The  age  has  now  come,  when  the  free  inquiring  mind 
demands  a  reason  for  what  it  is  required  to  believe. 
And  such  irreconcilable  contradictions,  as  those  we 
have  cited,  are  causing  many  religiously  disposed  minds 
to  begin  to  hesitate,  and  doubt  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Bible.  And  thus,  insinuating  skepticism  steals  in  upon 
their  hearts  step  by  step,  till  the  blessed  Word  loses,  to 
them,  its  divine  sanctity  and  power.  What  a  consol- 
ing .and  joyous  thought  then,  that  there  is  now  an  op- 
portunity for  such  a  mind,  to  become  rationally  con- 
vinced that  there  are  no  contradictions  in  the  blessed 
volume,  that  all  its  parts  are  harmonious  and  consis- 
tent, that  there  is  a  glory  and  beauty  beaming  through 
the  letter  of  every  page  and  sentence,  at  the  sight  of 
which  the  scoffer  becomes  dumb,  and  the  sincere  skep- 
tic opens  his  mouth  in  humble  praise  and  adoration  of 
the  blessed  Jesus,  and  hugs  the  Holy  Word  to  his 
bosom  as  heaven's  best  gift,  and  man's  unfailing  treas- 
ure !  "  Whoso  is  wise  and  will  observe  these  things, 
even  they  shall  understand  the  loving  kindness  of  the 
Lord." 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE    AND    THE  LAW  OF    THE  DI- 
VINE   SYMBOLS. 

"  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  is  not 
heard."  (Ps.  xix.  3.) 

WE  are  now  to  take  a  general  glance  at  the  nature, 
origin,  and  use  of  language,  and  of  the  law  of  analogy,  or 
language  of  correspondences.  What  then  is  language  ? 
It  is  any  mode  of  expressing  or  conveying  ideas  ; 
whether  by  words,  looks,  actions,  signs,  symbols,  fa- 
bles, metaphors,  parables,  representatives,  or  corre- 
spondences. Whence  is  language  ?  In  its  outward 
speech  it  is  all  from  nature.  From  the  things  of  the 
universe,  and  the  life  which  is  in  them  all,  speech  origi- 
nates. "  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their 
voice  is  not  heard.  Their  line  is  gone  out  through 
all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

Let  us  then  take  a  glance  at  Nature  ;  see  what  she 
is,  how  she  speaks,  and  what  she  says.  Now,  there  are 
two  worlds,  a  spiritual  world  and  a  natural  world. 
The  spiritual  world  is  the  world  of  mind,  and  the  nat- 
ural world  is  the  world  of  matter.  Mental  things  are 
composed  of  spiritual  substance,  and  material  things  of 


30  THE    OKIGIN    OF   LANGUAGE, 

natural  substance.  The  world  of  mind  is  tlie  world  of 
causes,  and  the  world  of  matter  is  the  world  of  effects. 
And  as  there  can  be  no  effect  without  its  cause  ;  so 
there  can  be  nothing  in  the  world  of  matter  which  has 
not  its  proper  correspondent  in  the  world  of  mind  ;  nor 
can  there  be  anything  in  nature,  which  does  not  point 
for  its  origin  to  the  spiritual  world. 

What  then  do  we  mean  by  the  science  of  correspond- 
ences ?  What  is  it  ?  It  is  the  law  of  analogy  which 
shows  the  relation  between  these  two  worlds.  Corre- 
spondence is  not  a  metaphor  of  speech,  nor  a  trope  in 
language,  but  a  universal  law  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence. A  metaphor,  or  simile  is  the  mere  resemblance 
which  one  natural  thing  may  be  thought  to  bear  to- 
wards another,  or  towards  a  spiritual  thing.  Corre- 
spondences are  the  actual,  effective  relation  which 
exists  between  spiritual  and  natural  things.  It  is  a 
higher  law  than  can  exist  between  matter  and  matter, 
or  spirit  and  spirit  on  the  same  plane.  It  is  the 
union  of  inner  things  with  outer  ;  or  higher  things 
with  lower,  and  is  the  great  law  by  which  both  the 
spiritual  and  natural  worlds  subsist  from  the  Lord. 
For  as  an  effect  cannot  exist  without  a  cause,  so  nei- 
ther can  a  cause  without  an  effect.  Now,  God  is  the 
great  efficient  cause  of  all  things.  Therefore,  every  * 
created  thing,  whether  human,  animal,  vegetable,  or 
mineral,  bears  a  correspondcntial  relation,  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  to  some  one  of  the  infinite  varieties 
of  the  divine  principles.  For  the  entire  universe  is  an 
out-birth  from  God.  It  is  not  God.  But  it  is  the 
effect  of  God.  God  is  the  cause,  and  He  fills  the  uni- 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  31 

verse  •with  life.  And  it  is  because  the  effect  is  related 
to  the  cause  that  He  can  fill  it  with  life.  This  relation 
is  the  law  of  analogy,  and  is  the  means  of  constantly 
holding  the  universe  in  existence.  Suspend  this  law 
for  one  moment,  and  universal  nonentity  is  the  conse- 
quence. 

Now,  the  great  end  and  object  of  the  Creator  in  giv- 
ing existence  to  the  universe  was,  the  production  of 
His  own  image  and  likeness  in  created  intelligences 
whom  He  could  for  ever  bless  and  make  happy  by  His 
own  goodness  and  truth,  whereby  they  could  know 
Him,  and  love  Him,  and  thus  be  filled  with  heavenly 
bliss.  But  how  can  we  know  that  God's  object  and 
effort  in  producing  the  universe  was  to  bring  forth  His 
own  image  and  likeness  ?  We  can  know  it,  because 
that  law  obtains  throughout  the  whole  universe  of 
things.  Everything  that  has  life  is  in  effort  to  pro- 
duce its  kind.  God  has  imparted  that  law  of  His  own 
nature  to  all  created  things.  And  the  effort  of  all 
nature  to  carry  out  that  law,  emphatically  bespeaks 
that  principle  in  God. 

Now  man,  in  true  order,  is  in  the  general  image  and 
likeness  of  God.  Any  other  created  thing  in  true  order 
is  only  an  image  of  some  principle  or  principles  in  God 
or  in  man. 

The  order  of  the  outward  creation  of  the  world  was, 
from  lower  things  to  higher  ;  first  minerals,  then  vege- 
tables, then  animals,  and  finally  man  :  thus  orderly 
and  gradually  approximating  by  higher  and  purer 
organizations  the  real  divine  image,  until  God  finally 
crowned  the  creation  with  man,  as  the  sum  total  and 


32  THE    OKIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE, 

embodiment  of  all  things  below  him.  When  all  but 
man  was  created,  and  everything  was  in  readiness  to 
produce  man,  the  vast  variety  of  things  scattered  all 
over,  and  throughout  the  universe,  were  but  humanity 
in  fragments  :  every  single  thing  was  an  image  of  some 
principle  which  was  to  be  in  man  ;  and  it  took  them 
all,  combined,  to  make  up  the  full  man.  Man  could 
not  exist  until  these  things  were  created  ;  for  upon 
them  his  body  must  subsist ;  and  through  them  his 
mind  is  to  be  educated.  And  when  all  these  materials 
were  brought  harmoniously  together,  in  man,  and  all 
was  pronounced  good,  the  vast  universe  corresponded 
to  man,  and  man  to  his  Maker. 

Who  cannot  see  that  the  things  which  God  creates, 
must  be,  in  their  degree,  like  Him,  so  far  as  a  finite 
thing  can  be  like  an  infinite  ?  His  love  desires  their 
creation,  His  wisdom  devises  the  mode,  and  His  power 
executes  it.  And  they  come  forth,  not  out  of  nothing, 
but  from  Himself ;  and  He  is  the  very  life  of  their  ex- 
istence. The  withdrawal  of  His  love  from  any  created 
object,  would  at  that  instant  destroy  it.  It  takes  the 
same  power  to  sustain  which  it  does  to  create.  Pres- 
ervation is  perpetual  creation. 

Thus  we  see,  that  during  the  whole  process  of  crea- 
ation,  God  was  making  man.  God  is  the  Infinite  MAN. 
And  all  things  that  he  makes  must  be  expressions  of 
Himself  as  they  come  from  His  hands.  But  He  can 
make  nothing  infinite.  He  cannot  add  to  Himself. 
Infinity  is  all :  everything  is  involved  in  it.  The  cre- 
ation of  lower  things  is  only  a  finite  expression  of  qual- 
ities in  the  Divine  Being. 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  33 

The  highest  individual  image  of  God  is  the  wisest 
and  best  man,  or  angel.  But  even  that  image  is  con- 
stantly being  improved  by  the  reception  of  further 
goods  and  truths  for  its  ever-expanding  mind  and  in- 
creasing wants.  And  the  affectionate  union  of  various 
wise  and  good  minds  into  a  society,  imparting  to  each 
other  what  the  Lord  gives  them,  is  a  higher,  and  more 
full  image  than  that  of  an  individual.  And  this  image 
will  be  forever  improving  by  the  constant  advancement 
of  each  of  its  individuals,  and  by  the  continual  accu- 
mulation of  more  individuals.  For  no  two  men  are 
alike.  Their  various  forms  and  qualities  indicate  the 
variety  of  the  divine  principles.  Every  addition,  there- 
fore, to  the  Grand  Man,  supplies  a  deficiency  in  the 
general  image,  and  makes  it  more  full.  But  the  per- 
fection of  the  original  never  can  be  reached  :  because 
Infinity  never  can  exhaust  Itself  by  giving  forth  new 
expressions  of  its  parts,  and  filling  them  with  life. 
The  reason  is,  the  Fountain  is  Infinite,  and  the  human 
beings  given  off,  or  created  from  it,  are  only  various 
finite  expressions  from  it. 

But,  to  return  to  the  period  when  in  the  process  of 
the  creation  all  things  were  in  readiness  for  the  produc- 
tion of  man  ;  when  the  vast  variety  of  human  princi- 
ples lay  scattered  throughout  the  mineral,  the  vegeta- 
ble and  the  animal  kingdoms,  in  living,  speaking  forms  ; 
when  all  nature  was  a  beautiful  page  of  mental  sym- 
bols in  physical  robes,  without  an  admirer  on  earth  ; 
wkli  no  created  rational  being  to  read  the  expressive 
characters  of  that  wonderful  book,  and  to  love  and 
worship  the  Author  ;  then  it  is  that  we  behold 

2« 


34  THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE, 

making  his  appearance — Man,  the  sum  total  of  the 
creation,  the  connecting  link  between  God  above  him 
and  nature  below  him,  and  thus,  the  crowning  act  of 
the  creation. 

And  as  man  was  made  above  all  other  things  in  the 
scale  of  creation,  by  being  endowed  with  rationality  and 
freedom,  and  at  the  same  time  embracing  within  him- 
self all  the  various  qualities  of  life  which  animated  the 
natural  world,  therefore,  life  had  thereafter  to  be  sup- 
plied to  nature  through  the  medium  of  man.  For  life 
ever  flows  from  God,  through  higher  things  into  lower. 

But  we  have  said  that  correspondence  is  the  relation 
which  an  effect  bears  to  a  cause  ;  and  it  may  be  asked 
how  the  lower  orders  of  creation  could  correspond  to 
man,  and  yet  be  the  first  created.  The  reason  is  this  : 
the  principles  which  constitute  a  true  man,  always  ex- 
isted in  God.  He  is  the  infinite  Man,  and  man  is  His 
finite  image.  In  the  eternal  purposes  of  God,  there- 
fore, man,  in  potency,  and  indeed  every  human  being, 
always  existed  ;  not  as  distinct  created  individuals,  in 
self-consciousness  ;  but  yet,  in  the  divine  mind,  per- 
fectly distinct  and  objective  ;  for  God  is  the  infinite 
Man  :  and  one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  spiritu- 
al world  is  the  ultimation  of  internal  qualities  in  object- 
ive forms.  By  this  law  there  always  went  forth  from 
Jehovah,  and  was  manifest  before  Him,  in  substantial 
human  form,  His  own  image.  This  image  was  not 
Himself,  but  the  outgoings  of  Himself  for  further  ulti- 
mation in  the  actual  creation  of  man.  And,  in  bring- 
ing man  down  into  nature  as  the  created  image  of  God, 
the  lower  orders  cf  creation  were  the  ultimated  effects 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVIXE    SYMBOLS.  35 

of  those  outgoing  principles  of  humanity  which  consti- 
tute man.  While,  therefore,  in  point  of  time,  the  low- 
er orders  of  things  were  first,  yet,  in  spiritual  reality, 
man,  in  the  full  image  of  his  Maker,  was  first,  in  the 
divine  mind,  in  outward,  substantial,  objective  form, 
though  not  in  actual  individual  creation.  And  that 
substantial  form  was  the  medium  cause,  in  the  power 
of  God  through  which  the  various  principles  of  man's 
nature  became  ultiniated  in  the  world,  and  clothed  with 
matter. 

Man,  therefore,  is  the  medium  of  conjunction  and 
communication  between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual 
worlds,  being  in  one,  as  to  his  soul,  and  in  the  other, 
as  to  his  body.  And,  being  the  medium  of  life  from 
Gud  to  lower  things,  he  imparts  his  qualities  to  the 
divine  stream,  as  it  flows  through  him.  Consequently, 
as  man  fell,  the  various  things  below  man  partook  of 
his  depravity,  became  changed  and  modified  according 
to  the  various  vicissitudes  and  changes  of  man's  states 
and  qualities.  Thus,  nature  became  corrupted  through 
man's  vileness.  The  earth  brought  forth  thorns  and 
thistles  ;  the  wild  beasts  became  quarrelsome  and  fe- 
rocious ;  serpents  and  reptiles,  became  poisonous  and 
troublesome  ;  and  hawks  and  owls,  moles  and  bats,  an- 
noyed the  human  race. 

Still,  the  world  corresponded  to  man  ;  and  sad, 
though  faithful,  was  the  tale  it  told  of  his  conduct 
and  vileness.  The  book  of  Nature  still  spoke  to  man 
wiih  her  ten  thousand  tongues,  but  how  changed  were 
many  of  her  accents  !  To  the  people  of  the  primeval 
age,  before  the  fall,  all  her  tones  were  sweet  and  har- 


36  THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE, 

monious  ;  she  spoke  the  sure  Word  of  the  living  God. 
Therein  they  read  the  history  of  their  creation,  the 
character  and  laws  of  God,  and  the  nature  and  quality 
of  themselves.  There  was  no  truth  which  men  needed 
to  know  that  this  book  of  nature  did  not  teach  or  indi- 
cate. It  was,  to  them,  a  medium  of  infinite  wisdom. 
Upon  what  page  soever  their  eyes  rested,  they  saw,  as 
by  intuition,  the  true  nature  and  character  of  the  scene 
in  its  living  aspect.  So  clearly  did  they  look  through 
nature  up  to  nature's  God,  that  the  very  names  which 
they  gave  to  the  various  objects  of  the  creation  indi- 
cated and  expressed  the  peculiar  quality  and  character 
of  those  objects.  This  book  of  nature  was  written  in 
the  pure  language  of  analogy.  They  could  read  it  in 
that  language.  It  was  a  universal  language,  under- 
stood and  read  by  all  alike  :  for  it  spoke  from  life 
through  qualities  clearly  indicated  by  their  forms 
and  uses.  And  it  is  now,  as  then,  in  itself  a  univer- 
sal language  '}  and  all  who  truly  see.  it  understand  it 
alike. 

But  the  people  of  that  golden  age  read  not  this  lan- 
guage in  the  light  of  their  own  wisdom  ;  nor  did  they 
have  to  learn  it,  as  we  do,  by  the  light  of  the  Word 
through  the  study  of  the  law  of  analogy.  They  had 
never  sinned,  they  were  the  open  and  willing  recipients 
of  wisdom  from  their  heavenly  Father  ;  and,  in  that 
state,  they  could  not  mistake  His  teachings  through 
nature,  nor  the  language  in  which  He  spoke  :  for  it 
was  divine  language,  unchangeable  and  universal.  It 
is  the  only  language  used  in  the  spiritual  world  ;  and 
in  the  full  millennial  day  it  will  be  universal  again 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  37 

upon  the  earth,  as  it  was  before  the  fall.  It  is  alike 
the  language  of  nature  and  of  Revelation. 

The  Holy  Word,  if  correctly  translated  into  all  the 
various  languages  of  the  earth,  would  still  have  the 
one  universal  language  of  analogy  pervading  the  whole 
work  ;  and  in  that  light  it  would  be  read  and  under- 
stood alike  by  all.  The  various  languages  of  men  would 
be  lost  in  the  glory  acd  beauty  of  the  one  divine  speech. 

The  reason  why  men,  before  the  fall,  saw  the  lan- 
guage of  analogy  by  intuition  is,  because  their  wills 
and  understandings  were  in  harmony  wHh  the  divine 
love  and  wrisdom,  and  acted  with  them.  Men  had  then 
but  a  mere  shade  of  will  and  thought  of  their  own. 
They  had  a  self-hood,  and  were  free  ;  and  it  appeared 
to  them  as  though  they  saw  and  felt  from  their  own 
knowledge  and  desire.  They  had  not  learned  to  exer- 
cise that  self-hood  against  the  divine  order.  Therefore 
they  saw  and  enjoyed  the  divine  light  as  though  it 
were  their  own.  And,  for  a  long  time,  the  language 
of  correspondences  was  the  only  language  of  the  earth. 

It  was  the  first  written  language.  When  men  first 
began  to  put  their  thoughts  upon  the  barks  and  leaves 
of  the  trees,  and  the  skins  of  beasts,  they  did  it  in  the 
hieroglyphics  of  nature.  They  had  no  other  language. 
Pictures  of  the  objects  in  nature  instead  of  the  living 
originals  became  the  expressive  symbols  of  men's  ideas. 
And  there  was  no  thought,  feeling,  passion,  or  propen- 
sity of  the  mind,  which  this  language  could  not  delin- 
eate to  the  life,  and  much  more  correctly  than  any 
other  language  could  do  it  ;  because  man's  spiritual 
qualities  had  given  the  very  forms  to  the  objects  in 


38  THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE, 

nature  which,  would  he  selected  to  represent  those 
qualities  in  man.  The  written  language  therefore, 
could  not  possibly  he  mistaken  by  any  one  who  under- 
stood the  science  of  correspondences,  even  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  Did  the  people  of  that  age  wish  to  express, 
upon  parchment,  any  attribute  or  character  of  their 
Creator  ;  in  the  book  of  nature  they  saw  Him  in  living 
lines,  and  any  expression  of  His  character  could  be 
delineated  therefrom.  Then,  in  very  act  and  deed, 
"  The  invisible  things  of  God,  from  the  creation  of 
the  world,  were  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the 
things  that  were  made  ;  even  His  eternal  power  and 
Godhead."  And  did  they  wish  to  correspond  with 
their  friends  at  a  distance,  or  narrate  a  history  of 
events,  this  mode  of  writing  was  amply  sufficient. 

But,  in  the  process  of  inventions,  the  period  arrived 
when  a  new  language  from  the  use  of  sounds  expressed 
by  means  of  letters  and  words  was  invented  and  intro- 
duced into  use.  But  even  in  this  language  men  still 
conveyed  their  ideas,  as  before,  by  natural  symbols  : 
for  though  they  did  not  paint  any  longer  the  objects 
of  nature,  yet  they  spelled  and  used  the  names  of  those 
objects,  and  therefore  continued  to  look  by  correspond- 
ences, through  the  objects  themselves  for  the  quality 
of  the  ideas.  For  example  :  —  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  paint  the  lamb  for  innocence,  the  serpent  for 
subtlety,  the  hand  for  power,  the  eye  for  the  under- 
standing, the  heart  for  the  will,  the  ear  for  obedience, 
the  stars  for  knowledges,  the  moon  for  faith,  the  sun 
for  love  and  sometimes  for  the  Lord  ;  and  so  on.  But 
now  they  used  the  names  of  these  things,  which  con- 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  39 

veyed  the  same  ideas.  For  the  names  of  things  always 
indicate  their  qualities.  Indeed  when  these  things  re- 
ceived their  names  such  names  were  given  to  them  as 
signified,  by  analogy,  their  quality.  So  that  the  change 
in  the  mode  of  writing  did  not  change  in  the  least 
the  character  of  the  language.  It  was  still  the  lan- 
guage of  correspondences — the  language  of  God.  And 
names  of  the  natural  things,  just  mentioned,  now 
signify  in  the  Word  what  is  stated. 

This  is  the  true  original  language.  And  in  this  lan- 
guage of  correspondences,  Moses,  a  man  skilled  in  all 
ths  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  wrote  the  Pentateuch,  in 
tli3  Hebrew  language,  a  language  peculiar  for  the  ex- 
pivssion  of  the  qualities  of  things  by  their  names.  In 
no  other  language  than  that  of  correspondences  could 
tho  Bible  possibly  contain  the  Word  of  God  ;  for  no 
other  language  can  have,  in  itself,  "  Spirit  and  life." 

But  as  man,  by  binful  habits,  became  less  and  less 
spiritually-minded,  and  gradually  sank  into  sensuality 
and  naturalism,  so  this  sublime  language  lost  its  beauty 
and  glory,  until  its  gold  became  as  dross  and  passed 
away  ;  but  not  without  leaving  its  expressive  memo- 
randums upon  the  pyramids  oi  Egypt  ;  in  the  records 
of  the  Druids,  in  Oriental  literature,  in  the  fabulous 
stories  of  antiquity,  in  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the 
Gentiles,  in  Heathen  Mythology,  in  German  supersti- 
tions, in  the  poetry  of  all  ages,  and,  even,  faintly,  in 
the  present  profane  languages  of  the  earth. 

But,  from  all  these  remains  the  spirit  and  life  have 
departed  ;  and  the  consequence  of  the  loss  of  this  sci- 
ence is,  "  Confusion  of  tongues'"'  all  over  the  earth. 


40  THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE, 

Men  cannot  now,  certainly  understand  each  other. 
Their  words  have  no  definite  meaning.  They  quarrel 
from  the  want  of  a  sure  way  of  expressing  their  ideas. 
The  hottest  mental  combats  often  end  in  the  perception 
of  the  fact,  that  the  parties  both  meant  the  same  thing  ; 
but  misunderstood  each  other's  words.  Now,  there 
can  be  no  other  sure  and  certain  language  than  that  of 
analogy.  It  is  tJte  language,  because  God's  language. 
The  confusion  of  tongues,  at  the  building  of  the  tower 
of  Babel,  was  from  the  loss  of  this  language  ;  for  that 
confusion  was  spiritual.  It  was  a  confusion  of  thoughts 
as  well  as  of  words.  Although  that  history  appears  short, 
yet  it  embraces  a  long  period  of  time,  during  which 
men  forsook  the  Lord's  language  or  words  of  truth, 
and  the  true  way  of  life,  and  undertook  to  build  up  a 
tower  of  their  own  self-hood,  which  could  give  them 
heaven  in  the  light  of  their  self-derived  intelligence. 
And  by  this  course,  they  finally  lost  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences, and  the  true  meaning  of  God's  words. 
And  then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  thev  misunderstood 

/  /  •* 

each  other.  They  had  no  standard  to  go  by.  They 
contended  among  themselves  about  the  truth  of  the 
Word,  and  consequently  divided  into  parties  and  fac- 
tions, and  scattered  abroad.  And  hence,  the  innumer- 
able variety  of  languages,  and  of  religious  sects  and 
conflicting  creeds  ;  and  even  of  divers  opinions  among 
individuals  of  the  same  sect,  upon  the  meaning  of 
God's  Word. 

It  is  therefore  from  false,  and  not  from  true  views 
of  the  Word,  that  men  are  divided.  Truths  are  eter- 
nal verities.  They  are  ever  and  unchangeably  the  same. 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVIXE    SYMBOLS,  41 

And  all  truths  are  in  harmony,  and  sustain  each  other. 
About  them,  when  seen,  men  cannot  differ.  It  is  about 
falsities,  altogether,  that  the  Christian  world  is  con- 
tending. Falsities  are  all  dark,  unstable,  deceptive, 
and  mysterious  ;  fit  grounds  for  contention  and  strife, 
and  for  the  proud  display  of  self-wisdom  ;  and  con- 
stant changes  of  opinion  are  and  must  be  taking  place 
among  those  who  build  upon  such  grounds  :  while 
those  who  build  on  the  "  Eock  of  ages" — the  spiritual 
truth  of  the  Word  rationally  seen  in  the  light  of  anal- 
ogy, never  can  change  their  views,  nor  disagree  in  their 
doctrines,  unless  by  sin  they  lose  their  language. 
Yrhen  this  light  is  seen  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Word, 
it  will  as  inevitably  lead  all  sincere  students  of  divinity 
to  the  same  conclusions  in  every  jot  and  tittle  of  the 
Word,  so  far  as  it  is  seen,  as  the  light  leads  to  the  sun 
from  which  it  flows.  The  reason  is,  the  investigation 
is  carried  on  by  a  scientific  law,  and  that  law  is  divine. 
The  reason,  therefore,  why  men  who  read  the  Word  in 
the  science  of  correspondences,  differ  not  in  its  doc- 
trines, is  the  very  reason  why  men  differ  not  in  mathe- 
matics ;  it  is  because,  in  both  instances,  the  truths  are 
indisputable.  If,  as  we  believe,  there  are  no  two  per- 
sons who,  without  the  light  of  this  science,  agree  as  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Word,  and  no  two,  who  have  it, 
that  disagree,  the  question,  as  to  its  truth,  becomes  a 
startling  one. 

Now  we  wish  it  distinctly  understood,  that  this  lan- 
guage or  science  was  once  universal ;  that  it  has  been 
lost,  and  is  now  revealed  ;  that  the  revelation  has  been 
made  by  the  Lord  himself  in  fulfilment  of  prophecy, 


42  THE    ORIGIN    OF   LANGUAGE, 

and  not  by  any  man  ;  that  "  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  .  .  .  hath  prevailed  to  open  the  book,  and  to 
loose  the  seven  seals  thereof/'  and  has  evolved  this  sci- 
ence from  nature  and  the  Holy  Word,  and  not  from  the 
mind  of  any  man  ;  and  has  caused  its  general  elements 
and  rules  to  be  recorded  in  the  works  entitled  the  AR- 
CANA CELESTIA,  the  APOCALYPSE  KEVEALED,  and  the 
APOCALYPSE  EXPLAINED  ;  and  that  when  we  read 
these  works,  and  learn  this  science,  and  behold  its 
light,  we  obtain  both  the  science  and  the  light  from 
the  Holy  Word,  and  from  nature,  and  not  from  those 
works  except  as  the  light  shines  in  them  from  the 
Word. 

As  we  read  those  wonderful  books  with  an  humble 
and  teachable  disposition  the  Holy  Word  comes  up 
constantly  before  us  with  newly  shining  pages,  which 
grow  brighter  and  brighter  as  we  progress,  until  the 
heavenly  harmony  and  beauty  of  the  Word  become  so 
absorbing  to  the  mind  that  we  lose  all  sight  of  the 
writings  we  are  reading,  and  the  Word  itself  becomes 
its  own  interpreter — its  own  revealer  of  the  divine  law 
in  which  it  is  written.  One  passage  throws  its  light 
upon  another,  and  receives  back  the  other's  lustre  in 
blending  beauty,  and  their  united  blaze  is  responded  to 
by  a  third,  and  all  these  are  embraced  by  a  fourth,  and 
so  on,  till  every  sacred  text  we  see  becomes  an  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  all  the  rest,  and  the  whole  blessed  Word, 
so  far  as  we  behold  it,  stands  before  us  in  symmetrical 
glory  and  beauty,  a  perfect  whole,  in  an  infinitude  of 
parts,  all  in  harmony.  And  though  we  are  lost  in  the 
depth  and  immensity  of  its  wisdom,  yet,  we  are  lost  in 


AND    LAW    OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  43 

light  and  not  in  darkness.  And  every  advance  we  make 
in  the  regenerate  life  enables  us  to  drink  still  deeper  at 
this  inexhaustible  fountain  of  the  water  of  life. 

Now,  are  there  any  persons  present  who  are  unac- 
quainted with  this  science  ?  let  me  affectionately  invite 
you  to  turn  aside  and  see  this  great  sight,  how  the 
bush  burns  and  is  not  consumed.  Would  you  have  a 
view  of  the  light  of  the  sun  of  righteousness,  as  it  shines 
from  the  interior  of  the  Word,  removing  every  obscur- 
ity from  the  letter,  and  reconciling  all  apparent  contra- 
dictions ?  c*ome  and  take  a  scientific  view  of  the  divine 
language.  Does  infidelity  at  times  trouble  you  with 
doubts,  and  would  you  see  those  doubts  flee  before  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  like  the  fogs  of  the  morning  before 
the  rising  sun  ?  would  you  see  the  Holy  Word  in  a 
light  which  will  prove  to  you,  beyond  the  possibility 
of  a  doubt,  that  it  is  the  Word  of  the  great  Jehovah  ? 
look  at  it  in  the  light  of  correspondences.  It  is  not  a 
foreign  light,  brought  to  the  Holy  Word  to  enable  us 
to  see  its  teachings.  It  is  its  own  scientific  light, 
beaming  from  its  own  pages.  Would  you  be  able  to 
close  the  mouth  of  the  skeptic  by  truths  irresistible, 
when  he  scoffs  at  the  serpent's  tempting  Eve  and  talk- 
ing with  her  ;  or  at  the  woman's  being  made  of  the 
rib  ;  or  asks  you  how  long  the  seventh  day  was  on 
which  the  infinite  God  rested  ;  or  who  was  Cain's  wife, 
and  where  he  found  her  ?  stop  not  at  the  surface  of 
the  word,  but  look  within.  Would  you  see  the  ladder 
which  Jacob  saw  extending  from  earth  to  heaven,  and 
would  you  hold  communion  with  God  thereon  ?  you 
may  find  it  in  the  Holy  Word  ;  it  is  the  relation  be- 


44  THE    ORIGIN    OF   LANGUAGE, 

tween  cause  and  effect ;  it  is  that  sublime  way  which 
leads  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God.  Would  you  see 
the  wonderful  vesture  of  our  Lord,  woven  without  seam 
from  the  top  throughout  ?  you  must  see  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Word  in  its  perfect  harmony  and  oneness  ; 
while  the  letter,  or  outward  garments,  are  parted  among 
so  many  sects.  Would  you  see  the  burning  bush  un- 
consumed  ?  you  must  see  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word 
shining  with  inward  fire,  or  brilliant  with  spiritual 
truths  from  the  love  of  God.  Would  you,  like  Moses, 
turn  aside  to  see  this  great  sight,  how  the  bu*sh  burns  and 
is  not  consumed  ?  Come  not  to  gratify  idle  curiosity, 
come  with  an  humble  and  teachable  disposition,  desi- 
rous to  know  what  God  says  to  you,  that  you  may 
obey  Him  ;  for  like  that  venerable  lawgiver,  you  may 
spiritually  hear  God  call  unto  you  "  Out  of  the  midst 
of  the  bush,"  saying,  "  Draw  not  nigh  hither  :  put  off 
thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou 
standest  is  holy  ground."  (Ex.  iii.  4,  5.)  The  shoes, 
which  are  the  clothing  for  the  feet,  denote  the  lowest 
and  most  outward  things  of  the  mind — our  carnal  pro- 
prium.  This  must  be  put  off  before  we  can  truly  appre- 
ciate the  internal  sublimity  and  beauty  of  the  Word. 

The  spiritual  sense  is  the  sanctum  sanctorum  of  the 
Word,  where  we  may  hold  communion  with  Him  who 
is  "  Of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity."  We  may 
see  something  of  the  natural  philosophy  of  this  sense 
by  the  science  of  correspondences  while  we  are  in  a  nat- 
ural and  selfish  state  of  mind  ;  but,  to  feel  it  in  our 
hearts,  and  see  its  inner  glories,  we  should  approach  it 
with  a  suitable  sense  of  the  great  distance  between  our 


AND    LAW   OF    DIVINE    SYMBOLS.  45 

own  state  and  the  purity  of  its  teachings.  "We  should 
come  then,  with  humility  and  meekness,  praying  to  the 
Lord  that  He  will  open  our  understandings,  that  we 
may  behold  the  wonderful  things  written  in  the  Law. 
And,  if  we  have  truly  sincere  desires,  a  lively  faith  and 
ardent  hope,  and  look  into  the  Law  of  analogy  with 
elevated  understandings,  rationally  opened  to  receive 
instruction  in  a  reasonable  way,  we  shall  behold,  and 
understand  the  wonder  which  St.  John  saw — "  A  wo- 
man clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her 
feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars  :"  or, 
in  other  words,  we  shall  see  "  The  holy  city,  New  Je- 
rusalem, coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  pre- 
pared as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband  :"  or,  in  still 
other  words,  The  church  of  God,  with  its  doctrines 
shining  in  spiritual  light ;  for  the  Lord  God  and  the 
Lamb  are  the  light  thereof. 

Doubting  not  that  this  New  Church  is  the  very  thing 
now  needed  and  designed  to  prevent  the  universal  reign 
of  skepticism,  to  restore  reverence  for  the  Holy  Word, 
to  open,  elevate  and  enlighten  the  human  mind,  that 
it  may  overcome  and  put  away  the  love  of  self  and  the 
world  which  now  so  universally  reign,  and  become  filled 
with  the  love  of  God  and  the  neighbor,  and  be  happy  ; 
I  appeal  to  you,  as  you  value  order,  light,  love,  peace, 
purity,  and  heaven,  to  examine  these  things.  0,  turn 
not  away  from  this  call  ;  for  it  is  a  call  to  a  true 
"  Foast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul."  We  call  you  to 
no  instantaneous  reception,  in  a  way  you  will  not  know 
how,  of  something  you  will  not  know  what.  We  invite 
you  to  look  at  nothing  unreasonable,  and  to  believe 


46  THE    ORIGIN    OF    LANGUAGE,    ETC. 

nothing  you  cannot  understand.  Come,  then,  to  the 
Fountain  of  Wisdom,  and  drink  the  truth  into  your 
souls  understandingly.  Come  willingly,  come  cheer- 
fully, come  inquiringly.  "  The  Spirit  and  the  bride 
say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  the  water  of  life  freely,"  (Rev.  xxii.  17,) 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE     ANALOGY     BETWEEN     THE     UNIVERSE     AND     THE 

MIND. 

"  For  then  will  I  turn  to  the  people  a  pure  language,  that  they 
may  all  call  upon  the  name  of  the  LORD,  to  serve  Him  with  one 
consent."  (Zeph.  iii.  9.) 

WE  are  to  glance  this  evening  at  the  Scripture  anal- 
ogy between  the  material  universe  and  the  human  mind. 
This  analogy  is  strikingly  manifest,  everywhere  in  the 
Holy  Word,  by  the  science  of  correspondences — the  sure 
language  of  God — in  which  that  Word  is  written,  and 
which,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  our  text,  the  Lord 
promises  to  make  known  to  the  people.  This  promise 
is  now  being  fulfilled.  The  Lord  is  now  turning  to  the 
people  a  pure  language,  that  they  may  all  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  serve  Him  with  one  con- 
sent. There  was  a  time  when  there  was  but  one  lan- 
guage upon  the  earth.  The  Lord  declares  in  the  Xlth 
chapter  of  Genesis  that,  "  The  whole  earth  was  of  one 
language,  and  of  one  speech."  And  again  He  says,  in 
the  same  chapter,  "  Behold,  the  people  is  one,  and 
they  have  all  one  language." 

Now,  it  is  certain  that  that  language  has  been  lost. 


48  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

The  people  are  not  all  of  one  speecli  now.  Nor  are  the 
people  of  any  one  language  all  of  one  speech,  in  that 
language.  Indeed  there  are  no  two  persons  of  any  one 
language,  that  understand  that  language  alike.  The 
reason  is,  the  language  il  self  has  no  stability  nor  sure 
definiteness.  This  is  because  it  has  lost  its  roots. 
True,  the  language  we  use  purports  to  take  root  in 
many  others.  But  these  languages  themselves,  and  even 
those  of -them  which  are  called  dead,  or  fixed  languages, 
have,  to  men,  lost  their  roots.  Nature  is  the  ground 
in  which  all  true  language  takes  root.  And  the  law 
of  analogy  is  the  only  light  in  which  that  root  can  be 
truly  seen.  We  know  the  dead  languages  are  not  fluc- 
tuating and  changing  like  those  in  common  use.  But 
the  reason  is,  they  are  not  used.  It  is  to  the  conserva- 
tive nature  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages,  that 
we  are  indebted  for  so  correct  a  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Word  as  we  now  have.  And  it  is  therefore  of  the  di- 
vine Providence  that  they  became  dead,  that  they  could 
better  preserve  the  Word.  Those  languages  still  take 
root  in  nature.  But  men,  by  the  loss  of  the  science  of 
correspondences,  see  not  where,  nor  how  that  root  ex- 
ists. Hence  the  uncertainty  which  hangs  over  the  pre- 
cise meaning  of  many  things  in  even  those  languages  ; 
and  particularly  in  the  Holy  Word,  where  many  things 
are  written  solely  for  the  sake  of  the  spiritual  sense, 
and  therefore  where  no  shadow  of  a  rational  meaning 
can  be  seen  without  the  law  of  analogy. 

But  the  Lord  says,  prophetically,  in  our  text, 
pointing  to  this  age  of  the  world,  "  Then  will  I 
turn  to  the  people  a  pure  language,  that  they  may 
all  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  serve  Him 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  49 

•with  one  consent."  Now  what  can  this  pure  language 
be,  in  which  all  the  people  will  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  to  serve  Him  with  one  consent,  unless  it  be 
a  language  which  will  give  them  all  the  same  ideas  of 
God  and  of  His  Word  ?  and  also,  unless  it  be  that 
very  language  which  the  people  had,  when  the  whole 
earth  was  of  one  speech,  and  all  called  on  the  name  of 
the  Lord  ?  And  who  that  sees  the  science  of  corre- 
spondences, and  reads  the  Word  by  it,  can  doubt  that 
the  time  has  now  come,  in  which  that  prophecy  is  be- 
ing fulfilled,  when  he  sees  persons  of  every  nation  and 
kindred  and  tongue  and  people  embracing  this  lan- 
guage, reading  the  Holy  Word  by  it,  understanding  it 
alike,  and  beholding  therein  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
the  one  Lord,  whom  they  can  all  serve  with  one  con- 
sent ?  And  what  other  language  can  the  Lord  turn 
to  the  people  than  the  one  they  have  before  had,  and 
which  He  gave  them  ?  He  says  He  will  turn  to  the 
people  a  pure  language.  What  is  a  pure  language  ? 
It  is  certainly  something  above  human,  like  its  Divine 
Author  it  must  be  divine,  definite,  and  sure — the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  Such  is  the  language 
of  analogy  ;  and  such  is  no  other  language. 

Let  us  then  continue  our  investigations  into  the  na- 
ture, origin,  and  use  of  that  language  ;  that  we  may  see 
the  relation  between  the  physical  universe  and  the  hu- 
man mind.  The  ancient  Greeks  called  man  a  microcosm, 
or  little  world.  They  considered  him  an  epitome  of  the 
macrocosm,  or  the  great  world  or  visible  system.  This 
was  from  correspondence  ;  and  although  this  word  mi- 
crocosm—  this  comprehensive  and  graphic  expression 

3 


50  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

of  human  nature  has,  for  a  long  time,  been  considered 
fabulous,  and  has  become  nearly  obsolete,  though  still 
retained  in  English  dictionaries  ;  yet  it  is,  at  this  day, 
rising  from  obscurity,  replete  with  meaning,  and  speak- 
ing with  light  and  life.  And  many  are  now  investigat- 
ing, with  admiration  and  delight,  the  countless  volumes 
of  mental  philosophy  contained  in  this  one  word  micro- 
cosm, it  being  expressive  of  the  embodiment  of  all  the 
elements  of  the  universe  in  man,  as  the  connecting  link 
between  God  and  nature. 

Man,  then,  being  a  microcosm  ;  what  is  there,  what 
can  there  be,  in  God's  Word  or  His  works,  that  does 
not  treat  of  man,  and  also  of  God,  the  infinite  man, 
the  great  eternal  prototype  of  all  created  things  ? 
This  view  of  the  subject  furnishes  us,  at  once,  with 
the  reason  why  God,  in  giving  us  His  Word  to  teach 
the  way  of  life,  has  written  that  Word  in  the  symbols 
of  nature  ;  for  that  language,  like  its  Author,  has  a 
divine  character  ;  its  essence  is  the  life  of  the  universe, 
ever  flowing  from  God,  and  well  might  He  say,  "The 
words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they 
are  life."  God's  language,  therefore,  is  as  much  supe- 
rior to  man's  language  as  His  works  are  superior  to 
man's  works,  or,  as  He  Himself  is  superior  to  man. 
His  language,  could  we  read  it  all,  would  teach  us  all 
things  ;  for  everything  that  God  does  speaks  ;  and  a 
single  sentence,  or  even  word  of  His,  contains  an  infi- 
nite /ariety  of  things.  It  is  a  part  of  everything. 
Thus,  it  is  infinite  in  its  essence,  in  its  qualities  and 
in  its  relations.  And  by  the  relation  which  every  part 
of  the  Holy  Word  bears  to  all  the  other  parts,  the 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  51 

whole  and  all  its  parts  may  be  proved  to  be  true  ;  for 
every  part  has  God  in  it  in  His  wisdom  and  love,  and 
therefore  we  may  learn  from  it  forever  ;  for  God  is 
perfect  in  the  least  things  as  well  as  in  the  greatest. 
And  though  our  minds  are  lost  in  its  unfathomable 
depths,  and  insurmountable  heights  ;  yet,  to  our  con- 
solation and  joy,  we  are  lost  in  light  and  not  in  dark- 
ness ;  for  we  are  in  the  midst  of  an  infinity  of  truths, 
each  corroborating  and  confirming  the  truth  of  all  the 
rest,  so  far  as  they  enter  into  the  mind  ;  so  that  there 
are  no  contradictions.  But  still,  the  willing  receiver 
is  not  so  lost  as  not  to  be  able  constantly  to  ascend 
higher  and  higher  up  the  holy  mountain,  beholding,  as 
he  rises,  newer  and  brighter  glories  in  Wisdom's  light. 

Does  this  look  like  exaggeration,  or  fancy- sketching  ? 
Who,  we  would  ask,  will,  at  this  day,  presume  to  fix 
limits  to  the  extent  to  which  man  may  advance  in 
wisdom  and  knowledge  ?  Being  made  a  recipient  of 
God's  wisdom  and  love,  and  having  the  Lord  for  his 
teacher,  where  shall  he  stop  ?  Why  may  he  not  yet 
know  how  the  trees  grow,  and  the  plants  bloom,  and 
see  and  understand  the  causes  which  are  operating  be- 
hind the  curtain  of  matter  ? 

Now,  as  man  is  a  microcosm,  having  within  him  all 
the  living  elements  of  the  macrocosm  ;  and  as  God, 
the  infinite  man,  is  the  Author  and  Father  of  all,  is 
related  to  all,  and  is  giving  existence  and  life  to  all  ; 
so,  therefore,  the  history  of  man  is  the  history  of  every- 
thing ;  a  knowledge  of  man  is  a  knowledge  of  every- 
thing ;  and  the  study  of  man  is  the  study  of  everything. 
And  God's  Holy  Word  embraces  that  whole  vast  his- 


52  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

tory.  It  is  an  entire  history  of  man — >past,  present, 
and  prophetic  :  a  history  of  his  origin,  nature,  and 
destiny  ;  of  what  he  has  been,  is,  and  will  be,  embra- 
cing all  time  and  eternity.  And  in  coming  to  that  Holy 
Word  for  light,  our  investigations  will  be  much  facili- 
tated by  bearing  in  mind,  that  the  internal  sense  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  volume,  treats  expressly 
and  entirely  of  the  nature  and  character  of  God,  of  the 
various  creations  and  falls  of  man,  and  of  the  conse- 
quences, to  man,  of  his  being  either  good  or  evil,  true 
or  false.  This  is  the  one,  and  entire  history. 

By  the  various  creations,  and  falls,  and  re-creations 
of  man,  embracing  all  his  diversified  qualities,  of  every 
shade  and  character,  which  are  described  throughout 
the  Word,  are  meant,  the  establishment,  consummation 
and  succession  of  churches  of  every  grade  ;  or  the 
regeneration  of  man  in  all  the  minutiae  of  the  process. 
This  is  the  one  constant  theme  of  the  Sacred  Word. 
And  what  else  could  it  treat  of  when  that  theme  em- 
braces everything  ?  for  whether  we  say  the  Bible  is  a 
history  of  the  church,  or  the  history  of  man,  it  is  the 
same  thing  ;  for  the  church  in  man  is  what  constitutes 
him  man.  This  is  what  gives  him  the  image  and  like- 
ness of  his  God.  This  is  because  the  essentials  of  the 
church  are  love  and  wisdom  in  man,  from  God,  going 
forth  into  action.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  the 
apparent  subject  of  the  letter  of  the  Word,  we  must 
look,  by  analogy,  through  what  appears  on  the  surface 
to  matters  of  the  mind — to  things  human. 

Where  the  creation  of  natural  things  is  mentioned, 
the  internal  sense  treats  of  the  creation  of  the  spiritual 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  53 

things  to  •which  the  natural  things  correspond.  And 
as  all  things  in  nature  correspond  to  principles  in  the 
mind  of  man,  therefore,  a  history  of  man's  spiritual 
creation  or  regeneration  could  he  perfectly  described 
by  a  history  of  the  creation  of  natural  things,  whether 
those  natural  things  were  created  in  the  order  men- 
tioned to  describe  the  spiritual  creation  or  not.  Thus, 
in  the  very  commencement  of  the  Holy  Word,  the 
spiritual  creation  or  regeneration  of  man,  the  micro- 
cosm, is  described  by  a  parabolic  history  of  the  creation 
of  the  universe,  or  macrocosm.  And  this  creation  of 
natural  things  is  narrated  in  such  order,  by  the  divine 
wisdom,  as  to  teach,  by  correspondences,  the  precise 
process  of  the  regeneration  of  man  ;  or  of  the  growth 
of  a  human  mind  from  spiritual  infancy,  up  into  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God,  in  every  particular  of 
the  proceedings  ;  so  that  men,  in  the  light  of  the  spir- 
itual sense,  may  now  go  to  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
to  learn  the  way  of  life  and  salvation. 

This  immense,  and  yet,  consolidated  system  of  views 
of  God,  man  and  the  universe,  and  of  the  Holy  Word, 
as  the  medium  of  light  and  life  to  all  created  things, 
strikes  many  minds,  at  the  first  view,  as  strange  and 
novel  ;  and  they  turn  aside,  saying,  It  is  asking  too 
much  to  request  our  attention  to  any  such  system. 
But  let  me  ask  them  if  it  is  asking  too  much  to  request 
their  attention  to  the  Word  of  the  Most  High  God  ? 
And  let  me  further  ask  them  what  light,  from  any 
other  philosophy,  they  can  bring  to  show  the  use  and 
beauty  of  the  strange  things  of  the  Holy  Word  ? 
Upon  what  other  ground,  than  this  language  of  anal- 


54  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

ogy,  can  we  possibly  account  for  the  propriety  or  use 
of  many  portions  of  the  Sacred  Word  ?  What  shall 
we  do  with  the  Pentateuch,  or  with  the  books  of  Eze- 
kiel  and  the  Apocalypse,  and  with  many  things  scat- 
tered throughout  the  Word  ?  Why  is  the  vast  universe, 
in  generals  and  in  particulars,  so  frequently  brought 
before  us  ?  The  sun,  moon,  stars,  winds,  clouds,  rain, 
hail,  snow,  ice,  frost,  fire,  light,  darkness,  calms, 
storms,  thunders,  earthquakes,  floods,  droughts,  moun- 
tains, hills,  valleys,  seas,  rivers,  beasts,  birds,  fishes, 
reptiles,  insects — everything  that  flies,  walks,  creeps, 
swims,  or  crawls  —  trees,  brambles,  briers,  shrubs, 
thistles,  plants,  wheat,  rye,  barley,  corn — everything 
that  grows  upon  the  earth — gold,  silver,  copper,  brass, 
iron,  lead,  precious  stones,  rocks,  clay,  sand — every- 
thing in  the  earth  ;  and  even  the  earth  itself.  Why 
are  these  things  so  frequently  mentioned  by  the  Lord, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  to  teach  men  the  doctrines  of  the 
Word  and  the  way  of  life  ?  for  "  All  scripture  is  profit- 
able for  doctrine."  Must  it  not  be  because  they  im- 
part moral  and  religious  instruction  by  a  higher  mean- 
ing than  the  letter  which  killeth  ?  Why  are  these 
things  mentioned  as  living  and  rational  creatures  ?  the 
floods  clapping  their  hands,  the  hills  rejoicing,  the 
trees  choosing  a  king,  the  mountains  moving  about, 
the  hills  skipping  like  young  sheep,  the  valleys  shout- 
ing and  singing,  the  earth  reeling  to  and  fro  like  a 
drunken  man,  everything  that  hath  breath  praising 
God,  and  God  entering  into  covenant  with  the  beasts 
of  the  field  and  the  creeping  things  of  the  earth  ;  why 
all  this,  unless  they  correspond  to  principles  in  man  ; 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  55 

so  that  it  is  man  that  reels  to  and  fro,  man  that  praises 
God  by  every  living  principle  of  his  nature,  man  with 
whom  God  entered  into  covenant,  man  that  shouts  and 
sings,  man  that  claps  his  hands,  man  that  chooses  a 
king,  principles  in  man  that  skip  like  young  sheep, 
mountains  in  man  that  are  moved  ?  It  must  be  so  : 
and,  by  the  science  of  correspondences,  it  is  clearly 
seen  to  be  so  ;  for  all  these  things  are  mentioned  as 
"  Profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction," 
and  "  for  instruction  in  righteousness  :  "  that  we  may 
be  "thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 
(2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17.)  But,  without  this  science,  what 
can  we  learn  from  such  things  of  the  Word  as  the 
Lord's  shaving  with  a  hired  razor,  and  its  consuming 
the  beard  from  the  feet  ?  from  the  dragon's  sweeping 
down  a  third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven  with  his  tail  ? 
from  a  chariot's  being  cast  into  a  dead  sleep  ?  from 
Jehovah's  riding  on  horseback,  or  in  chariots  ?  from 
horses  coming  out  of  the  book  when  opened  ?  from 
locusts  with  shapes  like  horses,  faces  like  men,  hair 
like  women,  teeth  like  lions  and  tails  like  scorpions  ? 
What  can  these  things  mean  ?  Are  they  the  Word 
of  infinite  wisdom  ?  They  are,  most  certainly  ;  and 
they  are  beaming  with  truth  clear  to  the  mind,  and 
filled  with  food  for  hungry  souls.  Come  ye  to  the 
banquet !  come  with  confidence  and  a  teachable  spirit, 
and  you  will  find,  in  every  passage,  a  well  of  living 
water,  springing  up  unto  everlasting  life,  for  all  that 
are  thirsty.  How  emphatically  do  all  these  things 
point  us  to  nature  for  the  symbol  of  their  true  meaning, 
or  for  the  origin  or  forms  of  the  words  in  which  divine 


56  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

ideas  must  be  clothed,  or  expressed,  in  order  to  reach 
human  minds  on  earth.  Indeed,  it  is  to  nature  that* 
we  must  go  for  the  real  basis  of  all  language.  How- 
ever lost  we  may  now  be  to  the  true  roots  and  laws  of 
our  own  dialect,  we  may  soon  know,  by  rational  reflec- 
tion, that  it  is  Dame  Nature  that  has  taught  us  all 
how  to  talk.  We  can  lisp  only  her  accents.  True, 
her  language  has  become,  to  us,  much  adulterated  ; 
but  that  is  our  own  fault.  We  use  it  nevertheless. 
Her  songs,  and  shouts,  and  tears,  and  groans,  and 
sighs,  are  the  sure  expressions  of  human  thoughts  and 
feelings.  We  can  soar  only  through  her  eloquence, 
paint  only  through  her  colors,  and  rejoice  only  through 
her  gladness.  Does  any  one  doubt  this  ?  Then  let 
us  inquire  into  it. 

Had  we  no  language,  how  would  we  go  to  work 
to  get  one  ?  'Now,  think  deeply,  and  seek,  as  keenly 
as  you  can,  the  answer  to  this  question,  and  you  will 
find  it  impossible  to  see  how  to  express  a  sing]e  idea, 
in  speech,  without  taking  the  sign  from  nature.  For 
illustration. — Had  we  no  words  to  express  the  idea  of 
innocence,  how  would  we  declare  it  ?  By  a  harmless 
expression  of  the  face,  a  soft  tone  of  the  voice,  or  a 
gentle  motion  of  the  hand  ?  How  should  we  know  but 
it  meant  gentleness,  kindness,  quietude,  or  some  other 
grace  or  virtue  ?  We  could  not  certainly  tell.  We 
should  have  no  possible  way  to  definitely  express  the 
idea  of  innocence,  without  seeking  something  in  nature 
which  was  a  symbol  of  innocence.  And  if  we  could 
read  the  book  of  nature  in  correspondences,  we  should 
point  at  once  to  the  lamb  ;  and  that  would  be  our  word 


THE    UNIVEBSE    AND    THE    MIND.  57 

for  innocence.  But  having  lost  the  scien~e  of  corre- 
spondences, the  language  we  should  now  draw  from  na- 
ture, if  we  had  none,  would  be  very  indefinite.  Still,  we 
should  go  there,  for  we  could  get  a  dialect  nowhere  else. 

But,  in  the  primeval  age,  when  men  were  good,  and 
saw  the  qualities  of  natural  things  by  intuition,  they 
had,  at  once,  something  in  nature  to  express  every 
quality  and  principle  of  the  human  mind  :  for  all 
things  correspond  to  qualities  in  man,  and  name,  by 
correspondence,  signifies  quality.  And  when,  in  the 
early  days  of  that  golden  age,  they  named  the  various 
things  of  nature  according  to  the  different  mental  qual- 
ities which  they  denoted,  they  did  as  men  do  now,  in 
giving  names  to  new  things  ;  only  they  acted  then  from 
the  union  of  spiritual  thought  with  the  natural,  and 
named  according  to  correspondences  ;  while  men  now 
act  only  from  natural  thought,  and  name  according  to 
qualities.  Thus,  we  have  our  Rocky  and  Green  moun- 
tains ;  our  White  and  Rattlesnake  hills  ;  our  Wolf, 
Bear  and  Pleasant  lakes  ;  our  Crooked,  Muddy  and 
Silver  creeks;  our  telegraph  wires  and  steam  engines. 

We  should  know  that  every  principle  of  the  under- 
standing and  of  the  will,  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings, 
though,  in  themselves,  spiritual  things,  and  entirely 
above  the  laws  of  this  lower  world,  yet,  in  order  to  be 
brought  down  into  natural  language  for  men  in  the 
flesh,  they  must  be  expressed  by  natural  symbols. 
For  the  natural  man  has  no  other  way,  and  can 
think  of  no  other  way,  to  describe  liis  thoughts 
and  feelings  bat  in  the  use  of  words  which  have 
been  drawn  entirely  from  nature.  From  a  rno- 

3* 


58  THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

ment's  reflection,  one  who  has  never  thought  upon  the 
subject,  may  see  that  the  language  he  uses  to  describe 
his  thoughts  and  feelings,  was  drawn  from  nature. 
Take  for  instance  the  whole  variety  of  adjectives  by 
which  we  express  the  qualities  of  mental  things  ;  bit- 
'ter,  sweet,  sour,  warm,  cold,  long,  short,  high,  low, 
dark,  light,  near,  distant,  black,  white,  no  matter  what. 
Are  they  not  all  taken  from  the  things  of  this  world  ? 
And  yet,  we  use  them  to  describe  the  states  and  quali- 
ties of  the  mind.  We  speak  of  a  warm  or  cold  heart  ; 
a  bitter,  sweet,  or  sour  temper  ;  a  long,  deep,  or  shal- 
low  head  ;  of  high  or  low  spirits  ;  a  dark  and  muddy, 
or  clear  and  lucid  understanding  ;  a  bright  or  cloudy 
intellect  ;  a  black  character  ;  a  distant  relative  ;  a 
near  friend  ;  a  knotty  subject ;  and  so  we  might  go  on 
and  fill  up  our  discourse.  Now,  we  all  know  that  these 
words  have  not  the  same  meaning,  when  applied  to  the 
mind,  as  they  have  when  applied  to  matter.  We  have 
no  proper  idea  of  extension  in  space  when  we  speak  of 
a  long  or  deep  head,  or  of  high  or  low  spirits,  or  of 
near  and  distant  relatives  ;  nor  of  natural  mud  or  clouds 
when  we  speak  of  a  cloudy  or  muddy  intellect  ;  nor  of 
taste  when  we  speak  of  a  sweet  or  sour  temper.  These 
expressions  are  used  because  there  is  no  other  way,  for 
persons  in  the  flesh,  to  speak  of  spiritual  things  but 
through  natural  symbols  ;  nor  to  express  the  quality 
of  spiritual  things  but  by  means  of  words  expressive 
of  the  quality  of  natural  things. 

And,  before  the  loss  of  correspondences,  a  clear  spir- 
itual idea  was  always  seen  through  natural  symbols, 
and  was  alike  understood  by  all.  But  when  the  true 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  59 

law  of  analogy  was  lost,  this  beautiful  and  certain  lan- 
guage fell  into  mere  naturalism,  and  the  Word  has 
since  been  understood,  either  precisely  as  it  reads  in 
the  letter,  or  else  been  considered  figurative,  and  there- 
fore been  interpreted  according  to  the  various  states 
and  prejudices  of  men.  And  thence  has  originated  all 
the  different  creeds  and  doctrines  of  Christendom. 
And  nothing  short  of  the  restoration  of  this  science  can 
ever  draw  out  the  deep  truths  of  the  Word,  restore 
harmony  to  the  minds  of  Christians,  and  bring  the 
watchmen  to  see  eye  to  eye.  Nor  can  this  be  done  by 
merely  bringing  the  philosophy  of  this  science  into  the 
external  plane  of  the  mind,  so  as  to  see  the  propriety 
and  consistency  of  it.  Nothing  short  of  the  possession 
of  this  heavenly  light  in  the  affections,  and  the  car- 
rying it  out  in  our  lives,  will  restore  order  and  har- 
mony among  men. 

But,  to  accomplish  this,  it  is  necessary,  in  the  first 
place,  to  have  a  common  plane  upon  which  we  can  ra- 
tionally meet  to  learn  the  true  character  of  our  Grod,  of 
ourselves  and  of  the  way  of  life,  as  taught  in  the  Holy 
Word.  This  common  ground  we  have,  in  a  light  in- 
disputable, in  the  divine  science  of  correspondences. 

But,  it  is  asked,  "  What  is  the  strongest  and  most 
conclusive  evidence  which  you  have  to  offer  in  proof  of 
the  truth  and  certainty  of  this  new  science  ?"  We  an- 
swer, No  evidence  can  be  sufficiently  clear  and  full 
to  satisfy  a  mind  that  will  not  look  at  it,  or  that  has 
no  taste  nor  desire  for  things  beyond  the  gift  of  this 
world.  But  if  even  such  a  person  were  entirely  unac- 
quainted with  the  Chinese  language,  and  should  re- 


60  THE    TJNIVEKSE    AND    THE    MIND. 

move  to  China,  and  there  learn  to  speak  and  write  that 
language,  so  as  to  read  their  books  and  understand 
them,  and  should  find  that  they  contained  a  rational 
and  consecutive  chain  of  ideas  and  history  of  events, 
he  certainly  would  be  convinced  that  they  had  a  lan- 
guage, and  that  he  had  learned  it.  It  is  precisely  so 
with  the  language  of  analogy.  It  must  be  examined 
and  learned,  and  tested  by  the  reading  of  analogical 
language  before  it  can  be  understood. 

Now  let  that  same  man  come  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures and  look  at  the  first  two  chapters  of  Genesis,  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew,  the  tenth  of  Ezekiel 
and  the  twenty-first  of  Revelation,  and  he  will  be  as 
much  at  a  loss  to  know  their  true  meaning,  as  he  was 
that  of  the  Chinese  language  when  he  went  to  that 
country.  But  let  him  learn  the  language  of  analogy 
until  he  can  read  and  understand  the  Holy  Word  by 
it,  and  can  see  a  beautiful  and  consistent  course  of  use- 
ful instruction  pervading  the  entire  chapters  mentioned ; 
and  not  only  them,  but  also  the  whole  Word,  making 
it  a  new  Book,  most  clear  and  instructive,  and  he  will 
then  be  much  more  strongly  convinced  of  the  indisputa- 
ble verity  of  this  language  than  he  was,  or  could  possi- 
bly be,  of  that  of  the  Chinese. 

Now,  we  can  say  to  such  persons,  that  many  are  the 
human  minds,  of  different  nations  of  the  earth,  who 
are  becoming  thus  convinced.  Will  not  God's  Holy 
Word,  then,  yet  become  known  as  it  is,  and  bo  univer- 
sally received,  loved  and  regarded  ?  Will  it  not  be- 
come the  'great  Law  of  the  land,  and  restore  universal 


THE    UNIVERSE    AND    THE    MIND.  61 

peace  on  earth  and  good  will  toward  men  ?  It  most 
surely  will.  That  glorious  shout  of  the  angels,  at  the 
birth  of  our  Lord,  was  not  made  in  vain.  "  Behold,  I 
bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to 
all  people."  (Luke  ii.  10.)  The  Lord,  at  His  second 
coming,  as  the  light  and  life  of  the  Word,  seen  by  the 
law  of  analogy,  will  surely  bring  it  to  pass.  The  seals 
are  already  broken,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  going  forth. 
The  pure  Truth,  or  the  Lord  as  the  spiritual  sense  of 
the  Word,  is  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  or  letter 
of  the  Word,  into  the  human  mind,  with  power  and 
great  glory  ;  and  every  eye  shall  see  Him.  Yes,  the 
glorious  Bridegroom  Himself  is  coming.  Go  ye  out  to 
meet  Him  ;  go  dressed  in  the  wedding  garments  of  the 
New  Jerusalem  :  go  adorned  with  the  precious  stones 
of  the  Holy  City  ;  with  the  pearls  and  rubies  of  the 
blessed  Word.  Yes,  let  us  arise,  and  go  hence,  that 
we  may  walk  the  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
together,  in  peace  and  love.  And  let  us  thus  hasten 
on  the  glorious  day  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  ;  and 
when  all  shall  know  the  Lord,  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest.  God,  by  the  light  of  His  Holy  Word,  is  of- 
fering to  us  this  blessed  privilege.  Is  it  worth  the  re- 
ception ?  Are  heavenly  light  and  life,  and  peace  and 
joy — are  a  happy  world  and  a  heaven  below,  and  an 
eternal  heaven  above  worth  the  attention  of  men  ? 
Then,  I  beseech  you,  let  us  accept  the  boon  of  Jesus' 
Spirit,  and  work  in  His  vineyard  while  the  day  lasts, 
that  when  the  final  morning  of  the  resurrection  comes 


62  THE    UNIVEKSE   AND    THE    MIND. 

and  we  cast  off  the  clay,  we  may  feel  in  our  hearts  the 
warmth  and  brightness  of  the  rising  sun,  and  hear  the 
plaudit  of  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant, 
.  .  .  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  (Matt, 
xxv.  21.) 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

THE    LAW    OF    LIFE    BETWEEN    GOD,  MAN    AND    NATURE. 

"  "When  Israel  went  out  of  Egypt,  the  house  of  Jacob  from  a 
people  of  strange  language,  the  sea  saw  it,  and  fled  ;  Jordan  was 
driven  back  ;  the  mountains  skipped  like  rams,  and  the  little  hills 
like  lambs. "  (Ps.  cxiv.  1,  3,  4.) 

OUR  subject  for  this  evening  is,  The  Divine  Law  of 
Life  bettveen  God,  Man  and  Nature.  This  law  of  life 
is  the  great  law  of  Analogy.  It  is  the  divine  rule  of 
action  between  the  Creator  and  the  created.  It  is  the 
way  God  gives  life  to  all  created  things.  Life  in  God 
is  the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom.  The  Divine  Love  or 
Goodness  is  the  essence,  and  the  Divine  Wisdom  or 
Truth  is  the  form  or  manifestation  of  that  Life  to 
man.  By  the  efflux  of  this  Love  and  Wisdom  God 
created  and  constantly  sustains  the  universe.  But  in 
order  for  the  affectionate  reception  of  this  Love  there 
had  to  be  human  will,  and  for  the  rational  reception 
of  this  Wisdom  there  had  to  be  human  understanding. 

But  this  Love  and  Wisdom  could  never  have  been 
affectionately  and  rationally  received  into  the  human 
will  and  understanding  without  language  to  teach  or 
express  the  nature,  character  and  qualities  of  this  di- 


64  GOD,    MAN   AND   NATURE. 

vine  Life.  The  only  language,  in  which  it  could  be 
given,  is  the  language  of  correspondences,  for  that  is 
the  speech  of  God  ;  and  it  presents  something  of  that 
Love  and  Wisdom  in  every  word  it  utters.  A  people 
who  should  rationally  and  affectionately  receive  that 
language  would  know  and  love  God,  and  possess  His 
image  and  likeness.  A  people  without  any*knowledge 
of  it  would  have  no  true  spiritual  idea  of  God  what- 
ever ;  their  thought  would  be  only  natural. 

That  language  was  once  universally  understood  on 
the  earth,  and  the  world  was  in  true  order.  And  just 
in  the  degree  that  it  was  lost  men  lost  true  ideas  of 
God's  nature  and  character,  misunderstood  the  true 
doctrines  of  the  Holy  Word  and  divided  into  various 
sects,  with  divers  creeds  and  ceremonies.  And  when 
that  language  is  rationally  and  affectionately  received 
again,  by  the  human  family  on  earth,  the  world  of 
mankind  will  be  spiritually  alive — in  the  true  knowl- 
edge and  love  of  God  ;  for  it  is  the  eternal  Law  of 
Life  between  God,  man  and  nature.  God  clearly 
speaks  it  in  both  His  Word  and  His  works  ;  and,  be- 
tween the  two,  the  language  is  definitely  explained 
and  rationally  taught. 

We  will  therefore  now  appeal  to  the  Word  Itself, 
in  Its  analogical  connection  with  nature,  in  further 
verification  of  this  law.  Now  the  words  earth  and 
heavens  are  often  used  in  the  Word  in  such  a  way  as 
to  give  no  rational  instruction,  in  the  literal  sense 
alone,  but  rather  to  involve  the  subject  in  obscurity, 
until  the  true  law  of  life  is  seen  ;  as  where  it  speaks  of 
the  heaven  and  the  earth  passing  away,  and  of  God's 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATUBE.  65 

creating  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  of  the  heavens 
being  rolled  together  as  a  scroll ;  of  the  stars  falling 
from  heaven  as  a  fig  tree  casteth  her  untimely  figs 
when  she  is  shaken  of  a  mighty  wind  ;  or  where  it  says, 
"  The  earth  mourneth  and  fadeth  away  ;  .  .  .  the  earth 
is  utterly  broken  down,  the  earth  is  clean  dissolved." 
(Is.  xxiv.  4,  19.)  "  The  earth  opened  her  mouth/' 
(Rev.  x.  16.)  "  The  LORD  hath  forsaken  the  earth." 
(Ezekiel  ix.  9.)  These  are  strange  sayings.  But  as 
soon  as  it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  earth  corresponds  to 
man  or  to  the  human  mind,  there  may  be  readily  seen 
something  of  the  beauty  and  propriety  of  all  such  ex- 
pressions ;  for  if  we  see  that,  in  the  most  essential 
meaning,  it  is  the  human  mind  that  is  everywhere 
treated  of  in  the  Word,  and  that  it  is  because  the  visi- 
ble world  corresponds  to  that  mind,  that  it  is  so  often 
mentioned,  a  most  rational  light  will  ever  beam  from 
the  sacred  page  where  the  teaching  is  otherwise  lost  in 
obscurity.  Thus  we  can  see  that,  as  the  earth  is 
warmed  and  illuminated  by  the  heat  and  light  of  the 
sun  so  as  to  give  germination  and  growth  to  every  liv- 
ing thing  upon  it,  so  do  spiritual  heat  and  light,  which 
are  the  love  and  wisdom  of  the  Lord  flowing  from  Him 
as  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  give  germination  and 
growth  to  every  spiritual  principle — every  good  thought 
and  feeling  which  spring  up  in  the  mental  earth  or  soil 
of  the  mind.  And  the  cultivation  and  growth  of  natu- 
ral things  perfectly  corresponds  to  the  cultivation  and 
growth  of  mental  things.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
there  is  so  much  said,  in  the  Word,  about  breaking 
up  the  fallow  ground,  and  sowing,  planting,  watering, 


66  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATUKE. 

reaping,  gathering,  and  gleaning  ;  and  also  about 
thorns,  thistles,  nettles  and  briers,  as  well  as  wheat, 
corn  and  good  fruits.  For,  in  the  spiritual  sense,  it  is 
always  things  of  the  mental  earth  which  are  meant  by 
such  expressions  ;  because  it  is  the  states  and  qualities 
of  the  human  mind  that  the  prophets  were  all  writing 
about.  Thus,  in  Hosea,  the  Lord  says,  "  Judah  shall 
plow,  Jacob  shall  break  his  clods.  Sow  to  yourselves 
in  righteousness,  reap  in  mercy."  (x.  11,  12.)  "  Light 
is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and  gladness  for  the  upright 
in  heart."  (Ps.  xcvii.  11.)  Man  "  Soweth  discord  ;  " 
(Prov.  vi.  14,  19.)  "Soweth  strife;"  (ib.  xvi.  28.) 
Soweth  "  The  wind,  and  shall  reap  the  whirlwind  ;  " 
(Hosea  viii.  7.)  "Soweth  iniquity"  and  "shall  reap 
vanity."  (Prov.  xii.  8.)  The  Lord  says  in  Mark, 
"  The  sower  soweth  the  Word."  (iv.  14.)  And  in 
Jeremiah  He  says,  "  I  will  sow  the  house  of  Israel  and 
the  house  of  Judah  with  the  seed  of  man,"  (xxxi.  27.) 
by  which  is  meant  the  truths  of  the  Word,  which,  if 
cultivated,  will  produce  the  image  of  G-od  the  divine 
Man.  And  when  the  Word  is  sown  it  is  declared  that 
"  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come  up  the  fir-tree,  and 
instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up  the  myrtle-tree." 
(Is.  Iv.  13.) 

Now,  as  it  is  in  the  affections  of  the  human  mind  that 
all  this  sowing  and  plowing  and  reaping  are  done  ;  so 
also  that  is  the  place,  to  which  the  prophet  alludes, 
when  he  says,  "  Thorns  shall  come  up  in  her  palaces, 
nettles  and  brambles  in  the  fortresses  thereof."  (Is. 
xxxiv.  13.)  For  the  living  soul  is  composed  of  things 
good  and  true  in  the  mind,  and  when  that  soul  goes 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  67 

down,  then  the  falsities  and  evils,  denoted  by  thorns, 
nettles  and  brambles,  come  into  the  heart.  Thus  it  is, 
that "  Thistles  come  upon"  our  "  altars,"  because  the 
human  heart  is  the  true  altar  of  worship.  And  there  it 
is  that  the  thorns  choke  the  good  seed  of  the  Word. 

How  clear  and  beautiful  is  the  correspondence  be- 
tween the  uncultivated  earth  and  the  uncultivated 
mind !  Therefore  the  cultivation  of  the  earth  is  often 
mentioned  to  denote  the  cultivation  or  regeneration  of 
the  mind.  Thus  in  Isaiah,  speaking  of  the  mind,  it 
says,  "  I  will  make  the  wilderness  a  pool."  (xli.  18.) 
"  Let  the  wilderness  and  the  cities  thereof  lift  up  then- 
voice."  (xlii.  11.)  "  He  will  make  her  wilderness  like 
Eden."  (li.  3.)  This  is  regeneration.  The  whole 
journey  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  on 
their  way  to  Canaan  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Canaan- 
ites,  is  a  perfect  description,  by  correspondence,  of  what 
every  man  passes  through,  in  being  regenerated.  And 
the  degeneration  of  man  is  described  by  the  fruitful 
place  becoming  a  wilderness  ; — "  The  pleasant  portions 
a  wilderness."  "  Edom  shall  be  a  desolate  wilderness." 
And  as  in  the  natural  wilderness  are  wild  and  ravenous 
beasts,  so,  in  a  wilderness  state  of  the  mind,  are  savage 
and  head-strong  affections  and  passions  to  which  wild 
beasts  correspond. 

We  will  now  mention  a  few  general  rules  which  may 
be  of  use  to  the  new  student  of  this  divine  science. 
The  two  great  essential  principles  in  God  are,  love  and 
wisdom.  The  third  principle  in  Him  is  power.  But 
this  power  is  the  offspring,  or  rather,  the  operative 
force  of  that  love  and  wisdom.  Man's  will,  in  order, 


68  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

corresponds  to  God's  love  ;  his  understanding,  to  God's 
wisdom  ;  and  his  energy,  to  God's  power.  Now,  as 
there  is  nothing  in  nature  which  God's  love  and  wis- 
dom have  not  brought  into  being  and  sustained,  and  is 
therefore  a  direct  or  perverted  image  of  some  principle 
in  Him,  it  must  follow  that  every  natural  thing  corre- 
sponds, in  some  certain  degree,  either  to  goodness  and 
truth  or  to  evil  and  falsity,  in  some  of  their  infinite  va- 
rieties of  forms.  For,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
God's  love  and  wisdom  are  not  a  unit  in  goodness  and 
truth,  but  an  infinite  variety  of  goods  and  truths,  all 
in  perfect  order  and  harmony,  forming  a  whole  in  the 
Infinite  Human  form  ;  and  that  everything  good  and 
true  in  man  or  in  nature,  corresponds  to  something  in 
the  great  Form  of  all  forms,  from  which  it  derives  its 
existence  ;  and  also  that  every  evil  or  falsity  is  a  per- 
version of  something  in  the  great  divine  Being.  But 
this  perversion  springs  from  the  abuse  of  man's  freedom 
and  not  from  God.  Sometimes  the  main  or  prominent 
correspondence  of  a  thing  will  be  to  goodness,  yet  there 
will,  at  the  same  time,  be  a  certain  relation  to  truth  in 
it.  For  every  good  has  its  truth.  And  good  cannot 
produce  anything  without  the  co-operation  of  truth, 
nor  can  it  even  exist  separate  from  it.  The  quality  of  a 
thing,  generally  speaking,  has  relation  to  some  good  or 
evil ;  and  its  form  to  some  truth  or  falsity.  But,  to 
these  general  rules,  there  are  exceptions  resulting  from 
states  or  circumstances  which  will  be  readily  seen  as  a 
person  progresses  in  a  knowledge  and  love  of  this  di- 
vine science. 

Everything  that  we  eat  that  is  wholesome,  corre- 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  69 

spends  to  good,  and  everything  that  we  drink,  to  truth. 
Unwholesome  things  which  we  eat  and  drink  corre- 
spond to  evils  and  falsities.  All  liquids,  as  a  general 
rule,  correspond  to  truths  or  falsities  :  water  to  truth 
or  falsity  in  the  natural  degree,  and  wine,  in  the  spir- 
itual degree.  Thus,  the  same  thing  sometimes  corre- 
sponds to  truth,  and  at  other  times  to  falsity,  accord- 
ing to  the  light  in  which  it  is  used.  But  it  is  readily 
known  to  which  it  corresponds.  For,  if  it  be  men- 
tioned in  a  bad  sense,  as  against  God's  laws  and  injur- 
ing that  which  is  good  or  true,  it  would  correspond  to 
falsity.  But  if  in  a  good  sense,  or  according  to  the  di- 
vine laws,  or  as  destroying  that  which  is  evil  and  false, 
it  corresponds  to  truth. 

Thus,  all  the  implements  of  war,  used  in  the  battles 
recorded  in  Scripture,  correspond  either  to  truths  or 
falsities  ;  those  on  the  Lord's  side  correspond  to  truths  ; 
those  on  the  opposite  side,  to  falsities.  And  even  the 
opposing  armies  themselves  correspond,  on  the  one  side, 
to  good  principles,  and  on  the  other,  to  evils.  Good  and 
evil  principles  always  stand  opposed  to  each  other,  and 
their  weapons  of  war  are  always  truths  and  falsities. 
Thus  the  "  Sword  of  the  Lord"  is  the  divine  truth  pro- 
ceeding out  of  His  mouth  ;  while  the  "  Sword  of  the 
adversary"  is  falsity. 

Water,  when  it  is  used  in  a  bad  sense,  as  destroying 
man,  or  overflowing  lands  or  cities,  or  being  muddy  or 
bitter,  or  raging  in  hail-storms,  corresponds  to  falsity  ; 
but  when  used  in  a  good  sense,  as  the  refresh  ing  shower 
or  gentle  dew,  the  river  of  God,  the  pool  of  Siloam,  a 
well  of  living  water,  the  water  of  life,  it  corresponds  to 


70  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

truth.  And  what  a  beautiful  correspondence  to  truth 
is  water  !  It  quenches  the  thirst,  cleanses  the  skin, 
and  performs  the  same  uses  to  the  body  which  truth 
does  to  the  mind.  In  general,  all  things  which  are 
transparent  or  that  reflect  images,  correspond  either  to 
truths  or  falsities. 

The  Holy  City  is  said  to  be  "pure  gold,  like  unto 
clear  glass/'  This  is  because  gold  corresponds  to 
goodness  and  glass  to  truth  ;  and  they  are  mentioned 
together  to  denote  the  union  of  goodness  and  truth. 
By  this  we  learn  that  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church, 
in  order  to  become  a  holy  city  in  our  minds,  must  fill 
our  hearts  with  their  goods  and  our  minds  with  their 
truths.  Then  the  doctrines  will  be  clear  and  beautiful 
in  our  minds,  They  will  be  pure  gold,  like  unto  clear 
glass. 

Again,  as  the  earth  corresponds  to  man,  or  to  the 
human  mind,  so  all  mountains,  being  the  highest  parts 
of  the  earth,  signify  the  highest  or  uppermost  things 
in  the  mind  ;  and  these  are  things  of  the  will — the 
desires — things  which  we  either  warmly  love  or  hate. 
Therefore,  if  the  thing  we  most  ardently  love  be  good- 
ness, that  affection  would  be  called  a  "  Mountain  of 
holiness  " — a  "  Mountain  of  the  Lord."  It  would  be 
a  high  state  of  love  to  the  Lord.  This  is  the  mountain 
which  our  Savior  went  up  into  to  pray.  For,  although 
He  went  up  into  a  natural  mountain,  yet  He  did  it 
from  correspondence  ;  His  heart  was  in  love  to  the  Fa- 
'ther  :  His  soul  was  in  a  mountain  as  well  as  His  body. 
Everything  He  said  or  did  was  in  correspondences. 
And  He  took  His  body  into  a  mountain  to  pray  to 


GOD;    MAN    AND   NATURE.  71 

teach  us,  by  outward  and  expressive  acts,  that  when  we 
pray,  we  should  elevate  our  affections  to  God  in  the 
highest  degree  we  can.  And  that  we  should  strive 
and  labor  for  it  mentally,  as  the  Lord  did  naturally  by 
actually  climbing  up  into  a  mountain  to  pray.  If  the 
thing  we  most  ardently  love  be  self,  manifested  in 
some  violent  feeling  of  revenge  or  malice  toward  some 
individual  who  has  injured  or  slandered  us,  that  bitter 
feeling  is  a  mountain — the  uppermost  pinnacle  of  our 
mental  earth.  This  mountain  must  be  removed  before 
we  can  find  rest  or  peace  of  soul.  This  is  the  kind  of 
mountain  to  which,  if  we  have  "  faith  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,"  we  can  say,  "  Remove  hence  to  yonder 
place  ;  and  it  shall  remove."  (Matt.  xvii.  20.)  If  we 
have  faith  to  believe  that  it  is  wrong  to  feel  unkind 
toward  anybody  ;  that  we  should  love  even  our  ene- 
mies, and  bless  those  that  curse  us,  then  we  can  remove 
this  mountain  of  revenge.  But  to  have  faith  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  in  this  case,  is  to  have  the  bless- 
ed truth,  which  says,  "  Love  your  enemies/'  so  deeply 
sown  in  the  soil  of  the  heart,  that  it  will  spring  up,  for 
the  removal  of  all  such  mountains,  and  become  large 
enough  for  the  birds  of  heaven,  or  heavenly  thoughts, 
to  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof ;  or,  in  other  words, 
so  that  we  can  think  kindly  toward  our  enemies. 

Hills,  in  a  bad  sense,  denote  feelings  not  so  high  as 
mountains — not  so  bitter  as  revenge  or  malice — yet, 
feelings  which  are  unkind  and  uncharitable.  In  a 
good  sense,  they  denote  feelings  of  charity  and  good- 
will. From  this  we  may  form  some  idea  of  what  is 
meant  in  the  Word  by  the  moving  about  of  mountains 


72  GOD, 

and  hills,  as  expressed  in  the  text,  when  "  The  moun- 
tains leaped  like  rams  ;  and  the  little  hills  like  lambs," 
or,  more  properly  rendered,  "  The  sons  of  the  flock." 
Now.  all  know  that  these  things  could  not  take  place 
physically  ;  but  we  readily  see  that  the  mountains  and 
hills  of  the  mind  may  be  removed,  whether  they  be 
good  or  evil.  In  the  text  they  were  evil.  Indeed,  we 
have  a  singular  text,  strange  enough  in  the  letter.  It 
reads  thus,  "  When  Israel  went  out  of  Egypt,  the 
house  of  Jacob  from  a  people  of  strange  language,  the 
sea  saw  it  and  fled  ;  Jordan  was  driven  back,  the 
mountains  leaped  like  rams,  and  the  little  hills  like 
lambs."  What  a  scene  for  a  mundane  eye  to  behold  ! 
But  it  is  spiritual,  not  natural.  And  many  of  us  have 
witnessed  something  of  the  kind  in  our  own  mental 
earth. 

The  sea,  in  the  Word,  corresponds  to  knowledge  in 
general,  whether  true  or  false,  stored  up  in  the  memory. 
Rivers  denote  the  scientific  and  doctrinal  streams 
which  flow  into  that  sea  from  study.  Places  represent 
states  of  mind.  In  our  text,  by  the  sea  and  river  are 
meant  false  knowledges  and  doctrines  ;  and  by  Egypt 
a  state  of  religious  darkness,  brought  on  by  a  strange 
language  not  rationally  understood,  used  in  the  absence 
of  the  pure  language  of  analogy,  which  had  been  lost. 
But  let  that  bright  language  be  again  brought  clearly 
into  the  mind  ;  let  Israel  and  Jacob,  which  denote  di- 
vine qualities  or  the  highest  religious  principles  in  us, 
arise  and  start  from  their  Egyptian  mysteries,  and  look 
above  their  strange  language  by  the  light  of  analogy, 
and,  will  not  the  sea  of  our  false  knowledges  flee  ? 


GOD;    MAN    AND    NATURE.  73 

"Will  not  the  river  of  erroneous  doctrines  turn  back  ? 
Will  not  the  mountains  of  self-love  and  the  hills  of 
the  love  of  the  \vorld  remove  from  the  affections  ? 
Most  assuredly  they  will. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  how  is  it  that  their  removal 
can  be  so  sudden  ?  How  can  they  skip  like  sheep 
when  they  are  the  very  life's  love  ?  It  is  in  theory 
only  that  they  thus  leap.  The  true  light  shows  us 
the  true  doctrines  ;  and,  intellectually,  we  see  and 
know  that  they  are  true,  and  that  our  former  views 
were  false  and  our  affections  evil.  This  is  quickly 
done  :  so  that  from  our  system  of  theology  all  moun- 
tains and  hills  of  evil,  as  they  are  seen,  are,  at  once, 
driven  to  the  shades.  They  leap  like  rams.  When 
light  comes  in,  darkness  must  disappear.  Thus,  our 
understanding  condemns  them.  But  before  they  can 
be  removed  from  the  natural  will,  the  new  ligh't  of 
faith  must  work  by  a  new  love  to  the  Lord,  introduced 
into  the  internal  will  by  the  new  light,  and  thus  must 
purify  the  natural  heart  from  the  love  of  self.  In  this 
way  only  can  those  mountains  and  hills  be  actually 
removed.  But  there  is  a  class  of  imaginary  mountains 
and  hills,  in  the  mind,  without  foundation,  resting  on 
circumstances  or  on  selfish  hopes  and  fears,  which  are 
sometimes  as  suddenly  gone  as  the  leaping  of  sheep. 
How  often  do  men's  high  mountains  of  hope  or  fear, 
at  once  skip  from  the  heart,  from  some  new  event  of 
life  either  blasting  every  ardent  expectation,  or  quell- 
ing all  anxious  dread  !  And  so  of  the  hills,  or  imagin- 
ary charities.  All  the  natural  feelings  of  kindness  and 
benevolence  which  exist  among  men  merely  from  self- 

4 


74  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

ish  intercourse  and  enjoyment,  and  which  sometimes 
seem  to  be  hills  of  much  magnitude  and  importance, 
may,  by  a  single  reverse  of  fortune,  all  skip  like  young 
sheep.  But  God's  hills  of  charity  in  our  hearts, 
founded  in  the  pure  love  of  mercy  and  good-will,  the 
reverses  of  worldly  fortune  can  never  disturb.  But, 
on  the  contrary,  they  ever  magnify  them  and  fill  them 
with  new  springs  of  kindness  and  compassion.  It 
does  the  generous  soul  good  to  pour  the  oil  of  sym- 
pathy and  consolation  into  the  wounds  of  an  afflicted 
brother. 

Valleys,  in  a  good  sense,  signify  the  lowest  and  most 
external  of  the  affections  for  either  God  or  the  neigh- 
bor. In  a  bad  sense,  they  denote  the  most  base  and 
grovelling  affections  of  the  natural  mind.  But,  as  all 
power  is  in  ultimates,  so  the  valleys  or  externals  of 
the  mind,  may  become  immensely  productive  of  good 
in  the  community  in  which  we  live.  There  is  great 
natural  fruitfulness  in  the  valleys  of  the  earth.  The 
soil  of  them  is  luxuriantly  fertile.  They  take  the 
wash  of  the  mountains  ;  or  the  mountains  give  their 
goodness  to  the  valleys.  They  also  send  down  their 
streams  to  water  and  refresh  them.  And  with  these 
blessings,  with  proper  cultivation,  their  productions 
are  abundant.  So  it  is  with  love,  the  mental  mount- 
ain, whether  in  God  or  in  man.  Heavenly  love,  the 
mountain  of  the  good  soul,  wants  to  give  itself  away 
to  everything  that  is  below  it.  It  gives  of  its  good- 
ness, and  it  gives  of  its  truth.  And  those  who,  like 
the  valleys,  open  their  bosoms  to  receive  them,  and 
drink  in  freely  the  water  of  life,  and  partake  of  the 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  75 

blessings  of  love,  faithfully  cultivating  the  mind,  will 
bring  forth  much  fruit. 

Again,  the  human  body  is  an  image  of  the  mind  which 
infills  it,  and  by  which  it  acts  ;  therefore,  every  part  of 
the  body  corresponds  to  some  principle  of  the  mind. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  organs  of  the  body,  in  re- 
gard to  both  God  and  man,  are  so  often  mentioned  in 
the  Word.  And  by  knowing  to  what  principles  of  the 
mind  the  various  organs  of  the  body  correspond,  many, 
otherwise  strange  and  incomprehensible  passages  of 
Scripture,  are  made  plain  and  instructive.  Therefore, 
when  the  Lord  says,  "  If  thy  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it 
off  :  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed,  than 
having  two  hands  to  go  into  hell."  "And  if  thy  foot 
offend  thee,  cut  it  off :  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter 
halt  into  life,  than  having  two  feet  to  be  cast  into  hell." 
"  And  if  thine  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out :  it  is  bet- 
ter for  thee  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  with  one 
eye,  than  having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire." 
(Mark  ix.  43,  45,  47.)  When  the  Lord  says  these 
things,  wo  are  not  left  in  the  mazes  of  darkness,  nor 
in  vague  conjecture  as  to  what  He  means.  But  who 
would  presume  to  say  that  the  literal  sense  alone  does 
not  leave  the  subject  in  profound  darkness  ?  Can 
any  one  believe  that  the  natural  foot,  hand  or  eye  can 
offend  ?  Are  they  not  mere  instruments  of  the  mind, 
entirely  unconscious,  and  without  responsibility  ? 
But  suppose  that  they  could  absolutely  offend,  can  we 
cut  them  off  and  cast  them  from  us  so  that  we  should 
be  without  two  hands,  feet  or  eyes  in  the  next  life  ? 
Is  a  man  who  loses  an  eye  in  this  life  to  have  but  one 


76  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

in  the  next  ?  It  does  seem  as  though  it  were  too  late 
a  period  in  this  wonderful  age  of  scientific  progression 
for  men  much  longer,  to  shut  their  eyes  against  this 
li"-ht  of  analogy.  If  the  Bfble  is  the  Word  of  divine 

O*/ 

AVisdoin,  given  to  man  to  teach  him,  it  must  be  in- 
tended to  be  understood.  But  who,  without  the  science 
of  correspondences,  will  dare  to  say  that  he  understands 
these  passages  ?  Surely  no  humble  and  pious  man  would 
have  that  presumption.  Let  us  look  at  them  in  the  light 
of  that  science.  The  hand  denotes  power  or  ability. 
Therefore  David  prays  to  the  Lord  saying,  "  Send  thine 
hand  from  above  ;  rid  me,  and  deliver  me  out  of  great 
waters,  from  the  hand  of  strange  children  ;  whose 
mouth  speaketh  vanity,  and  their  right  hand  is  the 
right  hand  of  falsehood/'  (Ps.  cxliv.  7,  8.)  Now, 
who  can  give  any  other  rational  meaning  to  hands,  in 
this  passage,  than  power  ;  or  to  waters,  than  falsities  ; 
or  to  the  strange  children,  whose  mouth  speaketh  vanity, 
than  to  evil  or  the  devil  who  was  a  liar  from  the  begin- 
ning ?  It  is  perfectly  certain  that  David  here  prays 
that  the  Lord  will  send  His  power  from  above ;  and 
rid  him,  and  deliver  him  out  of  many  falsities,  from  the 
powers  of  the  children  of  the  devil  whose  mouth  speak- 
eth a  lie,  and  whose  wilful  powers  are  the  wilful  pow- 
ers of  falsehood.  Again,  it  is  written,  "  His  right  hand, 
and  His  holy  arm,  hath  gotten  Him  the  victory."  Ho 
conquered,  of  course,  by  His  power.  Hand  denotes 
power  ;  arms,  greater  power,  and  shoulders,  all  pow<  r. 
If  thy  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off.  For  the  hand  to  of- 
fend is  to  exercise  the  power  and  propensity  to  sin.  To 
cut  the  hand  off,  is  to  cease  to  exercise  that  ability, 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  77 

and  thus  weaken  or  put  away  the  propensity.  We  are 
creatures  of  habit,  and  our  evil  propensities  become 
strong  or  Aveak  in  proportion  to  the  indulgence.  In 
the  strength  of  them  is  the  power  or  hand.  To  weaken 
or  put  away  that  strength  is  called  cutting  off  the 
hand.  The  foot,  as  it  is  the  lower  part  of  the  body 
and  most  in  the  dust,  denotes  the  most  external  and 
the  lowest  principle  of  the  mind.  For  the  foot  to  of- 
fend is  to  indulge  in  the  lowest  principle  of  selfishness. 
To  cut  the  foot  off  and  cast  it  from  us,  is  to  suspend 
and  mortify  that  indulgence,  till  we  lose  the  desire 
for  it. 

That  the  foot  denotes  the  lowest  natural  principle 
of  the  mind,  we  might  know  from  the  one  passage 
alone  where  our  Lord  says  to  Peter,  "  He  that  is 
washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean 
every  whit."  Thus  teaching  plainly  that  when  once 
spiritually  clean,  we  have  only  to  keep  the  lower,  the 
outward  principles  of  the  mind  clean,  to  be  "  clean 
every  whit."  For  it  is  through  the  lower  principles  of 
our  nature  that  temptations  enter,  and  defile  us.  Keep 
this  principle  pure  ;  guard  well  this  avenue  to  tempta- 
tion ;  keep  this  door  well  watched,  with  the  blood  of 
the  Lord,  or  truth  of  the  Word  upon  its  lintel  and 
there  is  no  danger.  But,  without  the  spiritual  sense, 
what  can  the  words  of  the  Lord  to  Peter  mean  ?  The 
Lord  was  washing  the  disciples'  feet.  "  Then  cometh 
He  to  Simon  Peter  :  and  Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Lord, 
dost  thou  wash  my  feet  ?  Jesus  answered  and  said 
unto  him,  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now." 
(John  xiii.  6,  7.)  Now  Peter  certainly  did  Imow  the 


78  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

Lord  was  "washing  the  natural  feet  of  the  disciples. 
But  he  did  not  know  what  that  act  signified.  "  Peter 
saith  unto  Him,  Thou  shalt  never  wash  my  feet.  Je- 
sus answered  Him,  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no 
part  with  me.  Simon  Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Lord, 
not  my  feet  only,  but  also  my  hands  and  my  head." 
(xiii.  8,  9.)  Then  Jesus  informed  him  the  feet  were 
all  that  it  was  necessary  to  wash,  in  order  to  give  the 
divine  instruction  conveyed  by  that  act.  He  wanted 
to  impress  upon  the  world  the  great  importance  of 
keeping  the  outward  acts  of  life  clean  ;  and  that  they 
must  wash  one  another's  feet,  or  aid  each  other  in  keep- 
ing free  from  outward  sins.  Who  can  know,  without 
the  spiritual  sense,  what  the  Lord  meant  by  saying, 
"  He  that  is  washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet, 
but  is  clean  every  whit"  ?  For  if,  after  our  bodies  are 
washed  clean,  we  keep  our  feet  clean,  that  will  not 
keep  our  bodies  clean  also.  Let  us  then,  while  we  have 
the  spiritual  sense,  faithfully  follow  its  instructions, 
and  keep  the  hand  and  foot  from  offending  :  thus  shall 
we  be  prepared  to  enter  into  life. 

The  eye  denotes  the  understanding.  For  the  eye  to 
offend,  is  to  tell  falsehoods  and  to  embrace  falsities  as 
truths.  To  pluck  the  eye  out  and  cast  it  from  us,  is 
to  cease  to  deceive  and  to  stop  trying  to  reason  from 
fallacies,  and  to  seek  for  light  upon  a  rational  basis 
until  we  can  reason  from  correct  principles  and  true 
doctrines.  When  we  deal  in  falsehoods,  our  eye  or  un- 
derstanding offends  against  G-od,  against  our  neighbor 
{ind  the  laws  of  our  own  peace.  We  must  pluck  out 
that  fals'e  eye  by  ceasing  to  deceive,  until  we  love  to 
think  and  speak  from  plain  truth.  And  as  to  its  beioT 


GOD,    MAX    AND    NATURE.  79 

better  to  enter  into  life  halt  or  maimed,  or  "with  one 
eye,  rather  than  having  two  hands,  feet  or  eyes,  to  be 
cast  into  hell- fire  ;  that  means  that  it  is  better  to  be 
good  and  happy  here  and  hereafter  in  simple  truth  and 
virtue,  though  we  cannot  know  everything  and  have 
all  power,  rather  than,  by  being  wise  in  our  own  eyes, 
esteeming  ourselves  great,  and  worthy  of  great  power 
and  dominion,  we  still  remain  in  the  love  of  self,  and 
cast  ourselves,  with  all  our  boasted  wisdom  and  power, 
into  the  fires  of  envy,  jealousy,  and  malice,  and  all  the 
attendant  miseries  of  selfishness.  The  selfish  man  would 
think  himself  spiritually  maimed,  if  his  overbearing 
powers  were  curtailed.  He  would  think  himself  halt, 
if  his  feet  were  restrained  from  their  wonted  paths  of 
vice.  And  he  would  think  himself  half  blind,  if  not 
allowed  to  reason  falsely  and  deceive  his  neighbors. 
And  the  Lord  would  teach  him,  by  this  scripture,  that 
it  is  better  to  be  happy  in  what  he  imagines  would  be 
a  cramped,  mutilated,  and  imperfect  condition,  rather 
than  be  miserable,  in  the  full  possession  and  indulgence 
of  all  his  selfish  powers  and  wants.  In  another  view, 
we  may  see,  that  we  cannot  enter  heaven  with  two 
eyes,  or  rather,  two  understandings  ;  one  dealing  in 
falsities  and  the  other  in  truths.  We  cannot  go  there 
double-minded,  serving  two  masters.  We  must  have 
an  eye  single  to  the  Lord  or  the  truth.  Nor  can  we  go 
there  with  two  hands,  or  rather,  opposite  powers  of  the 
mind  ;  one  exercised  in  things  evil  and  the  other  in 
tilings  good  :  nor  with  two  feet,  or  rather,  external  op- 
posing natural  principles  of  the  mind,  one  indulging  in 
vices  and  the  other  in  virtues.  We  can  only  go  there 


80  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

in  singleness  of  heart,  mind  and  action,  led  and  gov- 
erned by  the  Lord.  But  our  spiritual  bodies  there  will 
be  perfect,  with  eyes,  hands,  and  feet.  The  cutting  of 
the  material  body  to  pieces  does  not  touch  the  organic 
structure  of  the  spiritual  body.  He  who  loses  a  limb 
or  an  eye,  in  this  world,  will  not  be  destitute  in  the  next. 
Thus  does  the  Law  of  Analogy  render  clear  and 
beautiful,  the  darkest  passages  of  the  Holy  Word,  and 
also  bring  to  view  new  and  heavenly  light  in  the  most 
simple  and  plain  portions.  We  might  go  on  and  fill 
volumes  with  these  illustrations.  In  fact,  I  have  but 
slightly  touched  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  scripture  ci- 
ted ;  hinting  only  at  the  simplest  and  plainest  corre- 
spondences. Much  deeper  and  more  wonderful  light 
may  be  drawn  from  every  passage  than  we  have  at- 
tempted to  evolve.  For  it  is  a  fountain  of  infinite 
Wisdom,  known  in  its  fullness  only  to  the  most  high 
God  ;  and  yet  so  wisely  adapted  to  men  that  they  can 
rationally  commence  the  study  in  the  mere  twilight  of 
the  science  ;  and  pursue  a  path  which  will  grow  bright- 
er and  brighter  to  the  perfect  day.  And  how  emphati- 
cally does  all  this  prove  to  us  that  the  LAW  OF  LIFE 

BETWEEN  GOD,  MAN,  AND  NATURE,  is    the  SUre   law  of 

analogy,  in  which  Mod  speaks  to  us  in  both  His  Word 
and  His  works  !  For  we  thereby  receive  His  love  and 
wisdom — the  great  elements  of  eternal  life — through  a 
rational  knowledge  and  love  of  the  Divine  qualities, 
given  in  His  language  ;  and  which  are,  in  themselves, 
the  life  of  angels,  men  and  things.  Let  us  then  care- 
fully study  the  sacred  Word,  as  God's  first  and  highest 
gift  to  man,  as  the  true  medium  of  eternal  light  and 
life  to  the  human  soul. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CORRESPONDENCE   OP   BIRDS   AND   ANIMALS. 

"And,  thouson  of  man,  thussaith  the  Lord  GOD;  Speak  unto 
every  feathered  fowl,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field.  Assemble 
yourselves,  and  come  ;  gather  yourselves  on  every  side  to  my  sac- 
rifice that  I  do  sacrifice  for  you,  even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the 
mountains  of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh,  and  drink  blood.  Ye 
shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  mighty,  and  drink  the  blood  of  the 
princes  of  the  earth,  of  rams,  of  lambs,  and  of  goats,  of  bullocks,  all 
of  them  fallings  of  Bashan.  And  ye  shall  eat  fat  till  ye  be  full,  and 
drink  blood  till  ye  be  drunken,  of  my  sacrifice  which  I  have  sac- 
rificed for  you.  Thus  ye  shall  be  filled  at  my  table  with  horses 
and  chariots,  with  mighty  men,  and  with  all  men  of  war,  saith  the 
Lord  GOD."  (E/ek.  xxxix.  17-20.) 

OUR  present  subject  is  the  correspondence  of  animals 
and  birds  to  things  of  the  mind,  and  the  use  made  of 
them  in  the  Holy  Word.  And  now,  let  any  intelligent 
person,  who  has  never  thought  upon  the  subject,  be 
told  that  the  visible  universe  corresponds  to  the  human 
mind,  that  there  is  nothing  in  nature  which  does  not, 
from  its  quality  and  use,  denote  some  principle  and 
quality  of  the  soul  of  man,  let  him  admit  this,  and 
then  go  rationally  and  carefully  into  the  examination 
of  nature,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  what  things 


82  BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

there,  most  expressively  symbolize  human  thoughts  ; 
and  after  closely  investigating  the  nature  of  the  vast 
variety  of  mundane  things,  in  comparison  with  human 
qualities,  he  will  come,  most  deliberately  and  decided- 
ly, to  the  conviction  that  the  birds  much  more  fully 
and  emphatically  express  man's  thoughts,  than  any 
other  species  of  things.  And  for  a  symbol  of  human 
affections,  he  will  select,  with  the  most  definite  decision, 
the  beast.  And  the  more  closely  he  studies  the  char- 
acter and  qualities  of  the  various  animals  and  birds, 
in  connection  with  his  own  feelings  and  thoughts,  the 
more  strongly  will  he  become  confirmed  in  the  belief 
that  there  must  be  some  analogical  law  or  connection 
between  the  human  mind  and  these  creatures.  For  he 
will  find  no  quality  of  the  human  affections  or  thoughts 
which  he  does  not  see  manifested,  to  the  very  life,  in 
the  beasts  and  birds. 

Every  variety  of  quality  will  be  there  seen,  from  the 
most  gentle,  peaceful,  pure,  innocent,  harmless  and  af- 
fectionate, to  the  most  treacherous,  filthy,  deceitful, 
subtle,  revengeful,  quarrelsome  and  barbarous.  Every 
shade  and  tint  of  man's  affections  will  be  found  in  the 
beasts,  and  of  his  thoughts,  in  the  birds.  And  he  will 
then  see,  why  the  Lord  in  His  Word,  is  so  often  bring- 
ing forward  the  beasts  and  birds  to  describe  the  states 
and  qualities  of  men.  He  will  understand  why  Herod 
was  called  a  fox,  Dan  a  lion's  whelp  or  an  adder  in  the 
path  ;  and  also  why  the  Lord  says,  "  The  wolf  shall 
dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down 
with  the  kid  :  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and  the 
fatling  together  ;  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them. 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  83 

And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shnll  fp^d  :  their  young  ones 
shall  lie  down  together  :  and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw 
like  the  ox."  (Is.  xi.  6,  7.)  He  will  see  by  all  such 
language,  a  beautiful  description  of  the  state  of  the 
regenerate  mind,  when  all  the  various  feelings  of  the 
soul,  denoted  by  the  different  beasts,  are  in  harmony 
and  love  ;  when  the  strong  lion  and  leopard  of  the 
mind,  are  filled  with  the  spirit  of  mercy  and  truth, 
and  are  faithfully  protecting  the  lambs  and  kids  of 
innocence  and  virtue,  from  all  harm,  and  even  lying 
down  in  their  embrace. 

He  will  understand  what  is  meant,  in  the  Word,  by 
the  beasts  before  the  throne  of  God  full  of  eyes  before 
and  behind.  For  as  eyes  denote  the  understanding, 
he  will  see  that  it  is  the  aifections  of  man  filled  with 
wisdom  concerning  things  future  and  past.  He  will 
also  see  why  it  is  written  that  the  animals  give  glory 
and  honor  and  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  ;  why  the 
animals  say,  Amen  ;  why,  when  the  Lord  opened  the 
first  seal  it  was  a  beast  that  said,  "  Come  and  see  ; " 
and  also,  why  the  beasts  fell  down  and  worshipped 
God,  saying,  "  Amen  ;  Alleluia."  He  will  see  that 
the  human  heart  —  the  soul's  affections — are  what  is 
meant  by  beasts  ;  that  it  is  men  and  not  animals  that 
do  these  things. 

But  the  novitiate  may  ask  why  the  birds  do  not  also 
correspond  to  the  affections,  and  the  beasts  to  the 
thoughts,  since  they  both  think  and  feel  ?  We  an- 
swer, They  do,  to  a  certain  extent ;  because  thought 
and  affection  in  man  cannot  be  separated.  But  to 
find  ihe  full  specific  difference  between  the  correspond- 


84  BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

once  of  beasts  and  that  of  birds,  to  the  things  of  the 
mind,  we  must  look  at  the  different  localities,  habits 
and  uses  of  the  two  species  of  creatures  ;  and  also  at 
the  correspondence  of  those  localities  and  habits,  to 
things  of  the  mind.  And  here  we  shall  find,  that  the 

O  * 

ground,  upon  which  the  animals  live  and  walk,  and 
which  is  dark  and  opaque,  corresponds  to  the  human 
will ;  while  the  atmosphere,  where  the  birds  sing  and 
fly,  and  which  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  make  luminous, 
denotes  the  understanding  where  the  light  of  truth  is 
seen.  Then,  when  we  see  that  the  affections,  to  which 
beasts  correspond,  are  things  of  the  will,  to  which  the 
ground  corresponds  ;  and  that  thoughts,  to  which  the 
birds  correspond,  are  things  of  the  understanding,  to 
which  the  atmosphere  or  firmament  corresponds,  the 
question  will  be  settled. 

That  the  ground  does  correspond  to  the  will,  and  the 
atmosphere  to  the  understanding,  may  be  seen,  among 
many  other  reasons,  from  the  fact,  that  as  truth  can- 
not come  into  the  will  but  through  the  understanding, 
so,  neither  can  light,  the  correspondent  of  truth,  come 
to  the  earth  but  through  the  atmosphere.  And  what 
is  definite  in  this  argument,  is,  that  in  the  history  of 
the  creation,  in  Genesis,  the  earth,  which  denotes  the 
ground  of  the  will,  brought  forth  the  beasts  ;  while 
water,  which  denotes  truth  in  the  understanding, 
brought  forth  the  birds.  Now,  beasts  crawl  or  run  on 
the  earth  :  so  move  the  affections  in  the  will.  But 
birds  fly  and  soar  aloft  above  the  eartli ;  yo  move  the 
thoughts  in  the  understanding. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  attention  more  particularly  to 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  85 

the  correspondences  of  birds.  And  are  they  not  strik_ 
ing  symbols  of  thoughts  ?  How,  like  the  thoughts, 
they  flit  about  from  tree  to  tree,  and  object  to  object, 
now  rising  toward  heaven  and  now  sinking  to  earth. 
One  bird  meets  the  eye  and  is  gone.  We  know  not 
whence  he  came,  nor  where  he  went.  How  like  the 
coming  and  going  thought  !  Another  appears  dressed 
in  beauty.  'Tis  like  the  poet's  gilded  thought,  flying 
to  perch  in  the  verse  of  fame  or  affection.  Another 
bird  soars,  in  the  morning,  on  the  wings  of  joy,  singing 
praises  to  the  source  of  day.  It  is  the  grateful  Chris- 
tian's thought,  ascending  to  heaven  in  the  morning 
anthem. 

Some  birds  descend  to  the  earth  to  feed  upon  filth. 
They  are  the  dissolute  thoughts  of  the  grovelling  mind 
indulging  in  sin.  Some  are  birds  of  night  which  can- 
not bear  the  light  of  day.  They  are  the  hidden 
thoughts  of  the  thievish  soul,  afraid  to  appear  before 
the  eyes  of  men.  Some  birds  are  fierce  and  cruel, 
armed  with  beaks  and  claws  for  destruction.  They 
are  the  malicious  murderer's  thoughts,  seeking  carnage 
and  gain.  Other  birds  are  as  gentle  and  harmless  as 
the  breath  of  heaven,  and  as  joyous  as  the  music  of 
spring.  They  are  the  thoughts  of  sweet  and  innocent 
children,  sporting  'mid  sunshine  and  flowers.  Some 
birds,  in  their  union,  are  as  affectionate  and  as  constant 
to  each  other  as  mercy  and  truth.  They  are  the  conju- 
gial  thoughts  of  faithful  souls,  which  no  powers  can 
sj.ver,  nor  adversities  weaken.  Some  birds  are  as  black 
as  darkness,  and  others  as  white  as  the  light,  while 
others  are  mixed  with  black  and  white.  How  per- 


86  BIKDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

fectly  they  symbolize,  in  color,  the  false,  the  true,  and 
the  adulterated  thoughts  of  men  ! 

Birds  are  indeed,  most  true  and  perfect  representa- 
tives of  thoughts,  and  throughout  the  Holy  Word, 
they  always  denote  something  of  the  rational  or  intel- 
lectual element.  It  is  remarkable  that  almost  every- 
where, in  the  Word,  where  birds  are  mentioned,  some 
other  meaning  than  the  literal  sense  must  be  given 
them  before  the  mind  can  be  satisfied.  If  we  go  to 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  very  first  place  where 
"winged  fowl"  are  mentioned,  we  are  confounded 
with  the  idea  that  the  birds  were  made  of  water.  And 
we  ask  if,  by  any  chemical  process,  they  can  be  reduced 
to  water  ?  And  science  answers,  No.  We  ask  if 
their  substances  have  not  .been  changed  ?  And  the 
Law  answers,  Everything  must  bring  forth  after  its 
kind.  The  question  then  arises,  Why  is  it  written 
that  the  waters  brought  forth  the  birds,  and  the  earth 
the  animals  ?  But  this  question  can  never  be  answer- 
ed, without  the  science  of  correspondences.  But  when 
we  see  that  it  is  a  spiritual  history  and  that  water, 
there,  corresponds  to  truth  and  birds  to  thoughts,  all 
is  light  :  the  mystery  is  fled.  For  we  see  that  all  the 
thoughts  of  the  people,  before  the  fall,  to  which  birds 
correspond,  must  have  been  true,  for  the  truths  of  the 
Lord  brought  them  forth.  And  we  also  see  that  all 
the  affections,  to  which  the  animals  correspond,  must 
have  been  good  ;  for  the  will  or  goodness  of  God,  to 
which  the  land  corresponds,  brought  them  forth.  And 
as  beasts  and  birds  are  there  used  merely  for  the  sake 
of  the  spiritual  sense,  all  is  rational  and  clear.  * 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  87 

Now,  without  knowing  the  correspondence  of  birds, 
we  cannot  know  what  is  meant  by  its  being  said  in  Jer- 
emiah, when  prophesying  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
in  the  flesh  (chap.  iv.  25),  "  All  the  birds  of  heaven 
were  fled."  We  are  nowhere  informed  that,  at  the 
Lord's  first  coming,  there  were  not  as  many  birds  on 
the  earth  as  usual.  But  we  know  that  heavenly 
thoughts  had  passed  away  from  the  Jewish  Church  ; 
we  know  those  birds  of  heaven  had  fled.  And  there- 
fore, by  correspondence,  we  can  understand  what  is 
meant.  Again,  in  Isaiah,  our  Lord  says,  "  As  birds 
flying,  so  will  I  defend  Jerusalem."  In  the  literal  sense 
of  this  passage  we  get  nothing  ;  but,  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  we  have  a  general  or  universal  truth.  For  the 
Lord  never  defends  a  church,  or  an  individual,  but 
as  birds  flying.  It  is  only  by  the  influx  of  true 
thoughts,  from  the  Lord,  as  birds  flying,  that  we  can 
obtain  any  true  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  have  true  faith, 
see  the  way  of  life,  and  make  a  successful  defence 
against  our  evils.  This  is  the  only  way  the  Lord  can 
defend  Jerusalem  or  the  Church.  When  the  church 
in  ourselves  or  in  the  community  is  in  danger,  we  must 
have  true  thoughts,  and  we  must  let  them  fly  from 
mind  to  mind,  or  the  church  will  not  bs  defended. 
For  the  Lord  expressly  says,  "As  birds  flying,  so  will 
I  defend  Jerusalem." 

And  in  Jeremiah,  our  Lord,  in  speaking  of  the 
people  of  His  church,  says,  "  As  a  cage  is  full  of  birds, 
so  are  their  houses  full  of  deceit."  Now  what  simi- 
larity can  there  be  between  the  deceit  of  the  human 
mind  and  a  cage  full  of  birds,  upon  which,  even  an 


88  BIKDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

apology  for  a  metaphor  can  be  founded  ?  Not  any. 
No  good  sense  can  be  drawn  from  it,  unless  we  attach 
a  quality  to  the  birds  of  a  deceitful  character.  But  if 
birds  mean  thoughts,  all  is  consistent.  For  thoughts 
are  often  deceitful ;  and  their  houses  would  be  filled 
with  deceit  as  a  cage  or  mind  is  filled  with  false 
thoughts. 

Again,  in  Jeremiah,  the  Lord  says,  of  the  people, 
"  How  long  shall  the  land  mourn,  ...  for  the  wicked- 
ness of  them  that  dwell  therein  ?  the  beasts  are  con- 
sumed, and  the  birds."  (xii.  4.)  Now,  if,  by  this  pas- 
sage we  understand,  by  land  the  good  ground  of  the 
heart,  by  beasts  the  affections,  and  by  birds  the 
thoughts,  we  shall  see  the  propriety  and  the  use  of 
the  teaching.  For  this  was  actually  the  state  of  the 
Jewish  Church — "the  beasts  were  consumed,  and  the 
birds,"  i.  e.,  good  affections  and  true  thoughts  were 
gone  or  destroyed.  But  the  natural  beasts  and  birds 
were  all  on  the  earth  as  usual. 

And  the  Lord  again  says,  by  the  same  prophet, 
"  Mine  heritage  is  unto  me  as  a  speckled  bird  ;  the 
birds  round  about  are  against  her."  (xii.  9.)  Now, 
why  is  the  church  here  compared  to  a  speckled  bird  ? 
Is  not  a  speckled  bird  as  good  as  any  other  ?  And, 
why  is  it  said  that  the  other  birds  are  against  the 
speckled  one  ?  Do  the  birds  of  this  world  fight  the 
speckled  ones  more  than  others  ?  It  is  impossible  to 
draw  any  rational  instruction  from  this  passage  with- 
out coming  to  the  spiritual  sense.  But  all  is  clear  if 
we  call  the  speckled  bird  an  adulterated  state  of  the 
mind,  by  mixing  up  truths  and  falsities  together  ;  the 


BIKDS    AND    ANIMALS.  89 

•white  spots  indicating  truths,  and  the  black  ones  falsi- 
ties, so  that  the  thoughts  are  presented,  partly  true 
and  partly  false — a  speckled  bird.  True  thoughts 
would  then  be  against  her  on  account  of  her  falsities  ; 
and  false  ones,  on  account  of  her  truths — the  birds 
round  about  would  be  against  her.  A  church,  or  a 
professed  Christian,  must  be  true,  or  the  people  round 
about,  or  out  of  the  church,  will  condemn  him — the 
community  will  be  against  a  speckled  bird. 

In  Eevelation,  speaking  of  the  church  as  a  city,  or 
rather,  as  to  doctrines,  it  says,  "  Babylon  the  great  is 
fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habitation  of  devils, 
and  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage  of  every 
unclean  and  hateful  bird."  (xviii.  2.)  Here  is  de- 
scribed a  fallen  and  depraved  state  of  the  mind.  Devils 
and  foul  spirits  belong  to  minds  and  to  false  doc- 
trines, not  to  natural  cities.  And  there  too  dwell  all 
unclean  and  hateful  thoughts,  not  natural  birds.  How 
true  it  is  that  a  fallen  and  corrupt  mind  is  a  cage  of 
such  birds  ! 

In  the  39th  chapter  of  Ezekiel  we  have  the  strange 
words  of  our  text.  "  And  thou  son  of  man,  thus  saith 
the  Lord  GOD  ;  speak  unto  every  feathered  fowl,  and  to 
every  beast  of  the  field,  Assemble  yourselves,  and  come  ; 
gather  yourselves  on  every  side  to  my  sacrifice  that  I 
do  sacrifice  for  you,  even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the 
mountains  of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh,  and  drink 
blood.  Ye  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  mighty,  and  drink 
the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  of  rams,  of  lambs, 
and  of  goats,  of  bullocks,  all  of  them  fatlings  of  Bashan. 
Thus  ye  shall  be  filled  at  my  table  with 


90  BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

horses  and  chariots,  with,  mighty  men,  and  with  all 
men  of  war,  saith  the  Lord  GOD."  Now,  whoever 
looks  into  this  wonderful  passage  of  Holy  Writ,  and 
believes  it  to  be  the  Word  of  God  to  man,  and  "  prof- 
itable for  doctrine/5  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
God  either  has  given,  or  will  yet  give  to  man,  some  rule 
or  law  other  than  the  literal  meaning,  by  which  its  true 
signification  may  be  understood.  If  he  has  not  come 
to  this  conclusion,  he  is  in  doubt  about  its  ever  being 
understood,  with  any  degree  of  certainty,  or  even  of  its 
being  the  Word  of  God  at  all.  If  any  one  does  not  be- 
lieve what  I  say,  let  him  faithfully  examine  the  passage 
without  the  aid  of  correspondences,  and  see  if  I  have 
not  met  his  case. 

A  person  may  give  his  assent  to  a  thing  without 
weighing  it,  and  think  he  believes,  when  he  really 
knows  nothing  about  it.  No  faith  is  worthy  the  name 
where  the  believer  does  not  rationally  see  something  of 
the  truth  of  what  he  believes.  And  all  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  science  of  correspondences,  well  know, 
that  the  above  quotation  from  Ezekiel  cannot  be  un- 
derstood without  the  light  of  that  science.  What  sort 
of  chariots  can  they  be  which  every  feathered  fowl  and 
every  beast  of  the  field  are  to  be  filled  with  at  this 
feast  ?  By  what  rule  of  metaphor  can  be  drawn  any 
rational  conclusions  from  the  declaration  that  the  beasts 
and  birds,  by  eating  the  flesh  of  the  mighty,  and  drink- 
ing the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  of  rams,  of 
lambs,  of  goats  and  of  bullocks,  will  thereby  be  filled, 
at  the  Lord's  table,  with  horses  and  chariots,  with 
mighty  men  and  all  men  of  war  ?  But  when  the  cor- 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  91 

respondences  of  beasts  and  birds,  horses  and  chariots, 
flesh  and  blood,  princes  and  mighty  men,  and  rams, 
lambs,  goats,  and  bullocks,  are  seen,  then  the  passage 
becomes  divine  Scripture,  profitable  for  doctrine. 

This  passage  treats,  prophetically,  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  church  in  the  mind  of  man,  by  the 
Lord,  at  His  second  coming.  The  assembling  together 
of  every  feathered  fowl,  and  every  beast  of  the  field, 
means,  the  bringing  of  all  the  thoughts  and  affections 
into  harmonious  contemplation  of  the  Holy  Word  and 
of  the  Lord's  will ;  and  by  eating  flesh  and  drinking 
blood,  means  for  these  thoughts  and  affections  to  ap- 
propriate to  themselves  divine  good  and  divine  truth  ; 
for  flesh  signifies  good  and  blood  truth.  Chariots  de- 
note doctrines,  and  horses,  the  understanding  of  doc- 
trines ;  so  that  to  be  filled  with  horses  and  chariots,  is 
to  understand  and  receive  the  doctrines.  The  flesh  and 
blood  of  princes  and  mighty  men,  and  of  rams  and 
lambs,  and  goats  and  bullocks  mean,  goods  and  truths 
from  the  Lord  through  others  ;  for  these  beasts  denote 
good  affections.  We  receive  goods  and  truths  through 
each  other.  When  persons  love  these  goods  and  truths 
and  love  each  other,  they  give  and  receive  these  heavenly 
blessings.  The  ranis  and  lambs,  and  goats  and  bul- 
locks, mean  the  various  good  affections  of  the  people, 
through  which  they  impart  to  each  other  the  goodness 
and  truth  of  the  Lord. 

How  beautifully  and  forcibly  are  we  here  called  upon, 
by  the  Lord,  to  call  together  at  His  Holy  supper,  or 
whenever  we  come  into  social  worship,  all  our  affections 
and  thoughts,  or  beast  and  birds,  that  they  may  feast 


S2  BIKDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

upon  the  goods  and  truths  of  heaven,  the  flesh  and 
"blood  for  our  souls,  freely  imparted  from  heart  to  heart 
and  from  mind  to  mind,  until  our  understandings  are 
filled  with  the  heavenly  doctrines,  or  with  horses  and 
chariots  ;  and  our  hearts  overflow  with  love  and  good 
will.  In  this  blessed  way  the  whole  beclouded  book  of 
Ezekiel  becomes,  by  this  divine  science,  a  free  and  open 
fountain  of  living  water — a  river  flowing  from  the 
throne  of  Jehovah — a  city  whose  gates  are  ever  open, 
emitting  a  light  and  heat  which  reach  both  the  head 
and  the  heart. 

That  chariots  denote  doctrines,  a  little  fair  exami- 
nation must  convince  any  one.  In  the  Psalms  we  have 
this  apparently  strange  expression  :  "  At  thy  rebuke, 
0  God  of  Jacob,  both  the  chariot  and  horse  are  cast 
into  a  dead  sleep."  (Ixxvi.  6.)  Now,  that  a  chariot 
could  not  be  put  to  sleep,  is  certain.  But,  that  doc- 
trines could  become  passive  in  man's  mind,  and  even 
pass  into  forgetful  ness,  is  also  certain.  And  in  our 
text  it  is  seen  that  birds  and  beasts  could  not  be  filled 
with  chariots  ;  but  that  thoughts  and  affections  can  be 
filled*  with  doctrines. 

We  read  of  chariots  of  fire,  but  we  can  have  no  ra- 
tional idea  of  such  things,  literally.  But  when  we 
know  that  chariot  means  doctrines,  and  fire  love,  we 
have  something  for  the  mind  to  feed  upon.  For  the 
doctrine  of  love  or  of  life,  is  a  heavenly  doctrine.  And 
by  this  knowledge  we  can  see  why  it  was  that  Elijah 
and  Elisha  were  called  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the 
horsemen  thereof.  For  they  who  have  the  doctrines  of 
the  church  in  their  understandings  and  live  them,  are 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  93 

mentally,  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  there- 
of. It  is  because  Elisha  loved  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy 
Word  and  had  them  in  his  understanding  that  there 
were  seen  a  chariot  and  horses  of  fire  when  Elijah  went 
up  by  a  whirlwind.  For  chariot  of  fire  means  doc- 
trine of  love.  Were  we  progressing  rapidly  toward 
the  heavenly  state,  by  the  doctrines  of  love  to  God  and 
the  neighbor,  our  spiritual  state  would  correspond  to 
chariots  of  fire.  And  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  world 
are  such  that  a  person,  with  his  spiritual  eyes  opened, 
would  behold  the  state  of  our  mind,  by  seeing  near  us, 
chariots  of  fire. 

This  was  what  the  young  man,  mentioned  in  2 
Kings,  saw,  where  it  is  written,  a  And  Elisha  prayed, 
and  said,  LORD,  I  pray  thee,  open  his  eyes  that  he  may 
see.  And  the  LORD  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man  ; 
and  he  saw  :  and  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of 
horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha."  (vi. 
17.)  Otherwise,  what  does  this  passage  mean  ?  Could 
there  be  such  things  as  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  in 
this  world  ?  Yet,  the  understanding  could  be  filled 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Word  and  they  could  be  ar- 
dently loved.  And  that  state  of  mind  would  correspond 
to  horses  and  chariots  of  fire.  I  am  aware  that  it 
seems  very  strange  to  the  natural  mind  that  these 
states  and  qualities  of  the  mind  should  be  manifested 
in  form,  in  the  spiritual  world.  But,  how  can  the 
qualities  of  things  be  seen  without  form  to  manifest 
them  ? 

Everything  in  the'  other  world  is  mental.  It  is  a 
world,  of  niind — a  world  of  spiritual  bodies,  and  of 


94  BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

thoughts  and  feelings.  And  if  we  could  not  see  their 
forms,  there  would  be  no  scenery  there.  It  is  the  same 
world  that  we  have  here,  only  here  it  is  clothed  with 
matter.  Therefore  the  things  here  correspond  to  things 
of  the  mind.  Now,  that  a  chariot  should  be  the  mani- 
fest form  of  doctrine,  may  "be  quite  rationally  seen  by 
comparative  illustration  ;  but  to  be  truly  and  clearly 
seen,  we  must  behold  it  in  the  light  of  correspondence. 
To  illustrate  by  comparison  : — a  chariot  is  composed 
of  various  parts,  harmoniously  put  together,  forming  a 
whole.  Its  use  is  to  carry  our  natural  bodies  on  a  nat- 
ural journey.  Doctrines  consist  of  various  principles 
of  truth,  all  harmoniously  arranged,  for  the  rational 
conception  of  the  human  mind  ;  calculated  to  enlight- 
en, elevate,  and  give  spiritual  progress  to  the  mind 
that  receives  them.  Thus  they  constitute  a  spiritual 
chariot.  To  behold  this  chariot,  is  to  see  the  doc- 
trines ;  to  get  into  it,  is  to  love  them  ;  and  to  ride  in 
it,  is  to  live  them.  And  as  we  ride  on,  the  chariot  it- 
self becomes  more  and  more  beautiful,  presenting  new 
combinations  and  arrangements  of  principles  and  parts, 
making  it  more  and  more  perfect  and  heavenly.  For 
the  deeper  and  more  hidden  excellencies  of  its  internal 
qualities  are  constantly  presenting  themselves.  We 
are  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  leading  outlines  of 
this  chariot,  when  we  first  get  a  fair  view  of  the  Trini- 
ty, Atonement,  Fall,  regeneration,  resurrection,  judg- 
ment, &c.  Every  part  is  so  perfectly  fitted  to  the 
others.  All  is  symmetry  and  harmony.  We  know 
that  this  chariot  will  run  well :  for  the  truths  are  seen 
by  their  own  light,  and  become  self-evidently  true. 


BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS.  95 

Now,  the  Lord  is  often  said,  in  the  Word,  to  ride  in 
chariots.  But,  who  can  know  what  it  means,  unless 
he  knows  that  chariots  mean  doctrines  ?  If  he  knows 
this  he  has  something  tangible  and  definite  in  the  in- 
struction. For  he  can  see  that  the  Lord  can  come  to 
us  in  doctrines.  And  he  may  know  that  He  does  so 
come.  When  we  behold  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Church  from  an  affection  for  them,  they  become  to  us 
fixed  and  eternal  verities.  They  are  seen  in  their  own 
light,  and  become  the  indisputable  evidence  of  their 
own  truth,  because  they  are  felt  as  well  as  seen  to  be 
true.  Therefore  they  become  a  chariot  that  we  feel 
safe  to  ride  in.  We  are  not  afraid  of  losing  a  wheel, 
nor  of  being  upset  or  thrown  over  a  precipice  in  the 
end.  And  if  our  horses  are  well  trained  and  governed  ; 
that  is,  if  our  understanding  of  the  doctrines  be  clear  ; 
and  we  keep  the  bit  well  watched,  or  keep  the  under- 
standing from  breaking  over  the  rules  of  the  Holy  City 
and  running  wild,  our  journey  to  the  promised  land,  in 
this  chariot,  will  be  not.  only  safe  but  highly  de- 
lightful. 

In  the  7th  verse  of  the  20th  Psalm  we  read,  "  Some 
trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses  ;  but  we  will  re- 
member the  name  of  the  LORD  our  God."  Here,  "  char- 
iots "  denotes  false  doctrines,  and  "  horses  "  self-derived 
intelligence.  And  we  must  not  trust  in  these;  but  in  the 
qualities  of  the  Lord.  For  name  signifies  quality;  and 
God's  qualities  are  goods  and  truths.  For  by  chariots 
are  not  always  meant  true  doctrines,  nor  by  horses, 
truth  in  the  understanding.  These,  as  well  as  other 
things,  have  their  opposite  signification.  As  in  Ezek. 


96  BIRDS    AND    ANIMALS. 

xxvi.  7,  8,  10,  11,  "  Behold,  I  will  bring  upon  Tyrus 
Nebuchadrezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  a  king  of  kings,  from 
the  north,  with  horses,  and  with  chariots,  and  with 
horsemen,  and  companies,  and  much  people.  He  shall 
slay  with  the  sword  thy  daughters  in  the  field  :  and  he 
shall  make  a  fort  against  thee.  ...  By  reason  of  the 
abundance  of  his  horses  their  dust  shall  cover  thee  ; 
thy  walls  shall  shake  at  the  noise  of  the  horsemen,  and 
of  the  wheels,  and  of  the  chariots,  when  he  shall  enter 
into  thy  gates,  as  men  enter  into  a  city  wherein  is  made  a 
breach.  With  the  hoofs  of  his  horses  will  he  tread 
down  all  thy  streets  :  he  shall  slay  thy  people  by  the 
sword,  and  thy  strong  garrisons  shall  go  down  to  the 
ground."  Here  we  have  a  prophecy  of  the  destruction 
of  the  church,  or  of  the  principles  of  good  and  truth  in 
the  people.  The  king  of  Babylon  is  falsehood  in  do- 
minion :  his  chariots  and  horses  are  false  doctrines  in 
the  understanding.  The  north,  from  which  he  comes, 
is  darkness.  Daughters  mean  good  principles  ;  and 
the  field  means  the  affections  or  will.  So  that,  to  slay 
the  daughters  of  the  field,  is  to  destroy  the  good  quali- 
ties of  the  mind.  The  walls,  which  are  shaken  and  the 
garrisons  thrown  down,  are  the  doctrines  destroyed. 
The  sword  which  he  uses  is  falsehood  against  the  truth. 
The  dust  with  which  he  covers  the  people,  is  the  low- 
est and  most  external  naturalism. 

What  a  Fountain  of  wisdom  we  have  before  us,  in 
the  Holy  Word,  as  opened  by  correspondences  !  Let 
us  not  despair  because  it  is  infinite,  nor  because  we  can- 
not comprehend  more  of  it  at  once.  Think  of  how 
r.mch  more  we  know,  than  we  did  before  we  saw  this 


BIEDS    AND    ANIMALS.  97 

light.  And  remember  that  the  Teacher  is  infinite. 
Jesus  will  ever  help  us  in  the  study  of  His  Word  if  we 
look  to  Him.  It  is  truly  He  that  opens  the  book,  for 
a  clear  and  satisfactory  vision. 

First ;  we  have  the  light  of  the  science  of  Theology 
presented  to  our  natural  reason,  so  that  we  begin  to  see 
its  philosophy  by  a  new  and  heavenly  law.  If  we  ap-* 
ply  it  to  our  hearts,  in  obedience  to  the  truth,  the 
books  of  our  own  understandings  will  be  opened  by  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  :  all  doubts  will  flee  away,  and  we  shall 
go  on  the  heavenly  way  together  rejoicing,  in  new  light 
and  new  life.  Every  day  will  bring  us  something  new, 
and  a  new  appetite  to  enjoy  it.  Love  growing  warmer, 
friendships  stronger,  the  Lord  more  lovely  and  heaven 
more  bright. 


CHAPTEK  VI. 

THE    SYMBOLIC    MEANING    AND    USE    OF    HORSES. 

"  And  I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold  a  white  horse  ;  and  He 
that  sat  upon  him  was  called  Faithful  and  True,  and  in  righteous- 
ness he  doth  judge  and  make  war.  And  the  armies  which  were 
in  heaven  followed  him  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  tine  linen, 
white  and  clean.1' — Rev.  xix.  11,  14. 

WHAT  a  scene  for  heaven  !  The  Most  High  God, 
the  Creator  of  the  universe,  marshalled  at  the  head  of 
mighty  armies,  all  upon  snow-white  horses,  and  clothed 
in  fine  linen,  white  and  clean  :  and  this  Infinite  Com- 
mander, leading  the  countless  hosts  to  battle  ;  with  a 
sharp  sword  going  out  of  His  mouth  ;  His  eyes  as  a 
flame  of  fire,  and  His  head  surmounted  with  crowns 
upon  crowns,  many  in  number;  with  the  significant 
motto  upon  his  vesture  and  thigh,  KING  OF  KINGS 
AND  LORD  OF  LORDS  !  What  a  scene  of  sub- 
limity !  How  awfully  grand  and  exciting  even  to 
natural  thought  !  But  we  are  not  enough  awake  to 
truly  imagine  its  grandeur.  Could  we  peer,  with  our 
natural  vision,  into  the  open  firmament  and  behold 
such  a  scene,  how  utterly  we  should  be  lost  in  wonder 
and  dismay  !  Such  a  magnificent  army  of  horsemen, 


HORSES.  99 

with  an  Almighty  Commander,  all  upon  such  proud, 
white  steeds,  rushing  through  the  vaulted  skies  to 
hattle,  would  he  completely  overwhelming  to  every 
earthly  beholder  ! 

Yet  this  is  the  plain  literal  description,  given  in  the 
sublime  language  of  Jehovah,  of  a  spiritual  scene  which 
we  may  all  realize  and  enjoy.  A  scene  which  will 
prove  equally  wonderful  and  captivating  to  our  souls  ; 
for  it  will  open  our  minds  to  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  nature  of  this  divine  warfare,  present  us  with  beau- 
tiful white  horses,  enable  us  to  join  the  mighty  armies 
of  heaven,  and  to  follow  the  Great  Commander  on  to 
victory  and  glory.  But  as  it  is  a  spiritual  scene,  he 
who  would  behold  it,  must  find  it  in  the  human  mind. 
The  heaven  which  John  saw  opened,  and  where  he  be- 
held these  wonders,  was  that  heaven  which  "  cometh 
not  with  observation,"  it  is  not  "  Lo,  here,  nor  lo, 
there,"  but  within  the  human  mind. 

Let  us  then  turn  our  thoughts  inward  to.  the  proper 
field  of  action,  that  we  may  learn  the  divine  lesson 
taught  in  the  text  ;  and  join  the  armies  of  heaven  ;  and 
fight  the  battles  of  Jehovah,  like  faithful  soldiers  of 
the  cross.  But  how  can  we  learn  this  divine  lesson  ? 
We  must  learn  it,  in  humble  dependence  upon  the 
Lord,  through  the  light  of  the  divine  Truth  ;  by  look- 
ing through  the  natural  symbols  of  the  Word,  up  to 
the  spiritual  realities  ;  remembering  that  "  the  invis- 
ible things  of  God  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are 
clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are 
made."  But,  what  invisible  things  can  we  behold  in 
the  human  mind  through  the  symbol  of  a  white  horse  ? 


100  HORSES. 

In  that  symbol,  we  may  see  represented,  the  truth  of 
the  Word  in  man's  understanding.  How  can  we  know, 
beyond  a  doubt,  that  a  white  horse  denotes  the  under- 
standing of  the  truth  ?  We  may  know  it  from  the 
study  of  the  symbols  of  the  Holy  Word  ;  for  therein 
God  clearly  teaches  it  by  correspondence. 

The  Book  of  Nature  and  the  Holy  Word  are  God's 
two  great  books.  Both  speak  the  same  language — the 
language  of  divine  and  human  thoughts  and  feelings. 
But  man's  words,  in  this  age  are  arbitrary  signs  of  ideas. 
We  must  first  learn  their  definitions,  and  keep  them  in 
the  memory,  before  we  can  know  what  ideas  they  sig- 
nify. But  God's  words  contain  their  definitions  in 
their  qualities.  And  we  should  see  them  there  if  we 
were  spiritually  minded.  Words  are  called  signs  of 
ideas.  Now,  all  the  things  of  nature  are  signs  of 
ideas.  They  are  living  signs  of  living  ideas,  and  they 
must  bespeak,  by  their  life  and  quality,  the  ideas 
which  formed  them  and  which  constantly  give  them 
life  and  character.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  other  pure 
language — no  other  full  and  perfect  signs  of  ideas — no 
other  certain  expression  of  the  various  qualities  of 
human  souls,  than  the  symbols  of  nature.  For  the 
human  mind  constantly  receives  life  from  the  Lord,  and 
that  life  flows  down  through  man  into  nature,  carrying 
with  it  the  qualities  of  the  human  passions  and  propen- 
ities ;  and  thus  making  nature,  at  all  times,  a  symbol 
of  humanity  as  it  is. 

Now,  all  language  was  drawn  from  the  things  of 
nature.  "  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where 
their  voice  is  not  heard."  But  men  have  perverted 


. 

HORSES.  101 

and  corrupted  the  true  language,  in  thousands  of  ways, 
until  they  have  lost  sight  of  the  real  symbol,  and  see 
not  the  law  of  correspondences.  They  know  not  that 
the  human  mind  is  perfectly  symbolized  in  nature,  and 
that  our  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  all  the  various 
qualities  of  our  souls,  can  be  accurately  described  in 
no  other  language  ;  and  that  the  language  of  the  Holy 
Word  is,  therefore,  written  in  the  speech  of  nature,  by 
a  universal  law;  and  could  be  perfect  and  divine  in  no 
other  language.  Did  the  world  see  this,  the  ten 
thousand  apparently  strange  and  mysterious  things  of 
the  Word,  would  soon  lose  their  mystery,  and  open 
their  heavenly  treasures  of  light  and  life,  to  the  souls 
of  men.  Then  men  would  look  into  nature's  signifi- 
cant mirror  for  a  view  of  their  mental  qualities.  And 
they  would  there  behold 

Their  Thoughts  symbolized  in  the  Birds, 
"     Innocence  "  "    "    Lambs, 

"     Watchfulness  and  Combativeness  in  the  Do^s, 

O     " 

"     Selfishness  and  Indolence  "    "   Hojrs, 

D      7 

"  Slyness  and  Artifice  "    "   Foxes, 

"  Malice  and  Cruelty  "    "   Wolves, 

"  Subtleness  and  Sensuality  in  the  Serpents,  and 

"  Understanding  of  Knowledge  in  the  Horses. 

And  so  they  might  go  on  with  their  investigations, 
until  they  gained  full  possession  of  the  lost  key  of 
analogy,  which  unlocks  the  divine  casket  of  heavenly 
wisdom,  and  opens  to  the  human  mind,  the  spiritual 
truths  of  the  Holy  Word,  in  great  glory  and  beauty. 
But  in  this  discourse  we  must  inquire  particularly 


102  HORSES. 

.  into  the  correspondence  and  use  of  the  horse,  in  the 
Divine  Word.  The  Holy  Word  speaks  much  of  horses, 
where  every  one  must  see  that  it  cannot  mean  natural 
horses  ;  but  must,  in  the  divine  language,  mean  some- 
thing of  the  human  mind.  Now,  if  we  will  only  ad- 
mit that  the  term  horse  means  the  understanding  of 
knowledge,  and  read  the  Word  with  that  idea  in  the 
mind,  connected  with  other  correspondences,  all  the 
strange  passages  of  the  Word,  where  the  term  horse  is 
used,  will  be  rationally  understood.  But  if  we  should 
adopt  any  other  signification,  the  passages  could  not 
be  understood.  We  could  make  nothing  out  of  them. 
The  Word  speaks  of  horses  and  their  riders.  The 
horses  signify  knowledge  in  the  understanding,  or 
the  understanding  of  things,  whether  true  or  false. 
The  riders  are  the  persons  themselves,  who  have  this 
understanding  and  knowledge.  If  I  have  the  truth  in 
my  understanding,  my  knowledge  or  understanding  of 
that  truth  performs  the  same  uses  for  my  mind,  that  a 
horse  does  for  my  body.  For  by  the  knowledge  of  that 
truth,  my  mind  travels  or  advances.  If  it  be  scientific 
truth,  it  carries  me  on  in  science.  If  it  be  spiritual 
truth,  it  takes  me  on  my  spiritual  journey,  as  a  horse 
takes  me  on  a  natural  journey.  By  the  divine  truth 
in  our  understanding,  we  perform  the  heavenly  jour- 
ney, passing  around  the  mountains  of  sin,  through  the 
valleys  of  humility  and  repentance,  along  the  streams 
of  science,  over  the  hills  of  charity  and  kindness,  drink- 
ing at  every  crystal  fountain  of  wisdom,  avoiding  the 
bogs  and  marshes  of  iniquity,  and  the  thorny  jungles 
of  vice  ;  crossing  the  pleasant  plains  of  peace  and 


HOUSES.  103 

plenty,  till  we  find  our  heavenly  home  in  the  top  of 
the  Mountain  of  the  Lord,  or  in  love  to  God  and  the 
neighbor. 

Without  the  understanding  of  divine  truth,  we  could 
not  possibly  make  spiritual  progress.  We  rest  and 
rely  upon  the  understanding  and  power  of  the  truth,  as 
we  rest  and  rely  upon  the  ability  and  strength  of  our 
horse  ;  and  there  is  a  perfect  correspondence  between 
them.  For  the  natural  purposes,  for  which  we  use  the 
horse,  are  perfectly  analogous  to  the  spiritual  purposes 
for  which  we  use  our  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Now,  if,  instead  of  the  truth,  our  understanding  be 
filled  with  false,  absurd,  and  evil  views,  it  will  be  like 
a  wild,  frantic,  ungovernable  horse,  leaping  all  the 
fences  or  rules  of  law  and  order,  starting  at  every  new 
object,  getting  into  mud  and  mire,  and  often  jeopard- 
izing our  life  on  the  way.  A  man  with  such  a  mind 
needs  to  keep  a  strong  bit  and  a  straight  rein  over  his 
headstrong  understanding,  or  it  will  surely  run  away 
with  him,  and  throw  him  among  the  rocks  of  error,  on 
the  wayside  of  destruction,  or  down  the  precipice  of 
vice. 

Now,  all  the  qualities  of  the  horse  prove  the  truth 
of  this  correspondence.  His  strength  denotes  the 
powers  of  our  intellect  ;  his  speed,  the  activity  of  our 
thought ;  his  great  memory,  our  powers  of  recollection ; 
and,  his  sagacity,  our  quickness  of  perception. 

But  now,  to  the  law  and  the  testimony  for  the  proof 
of  these  things.  The  Lord,  in  prophesying  of  the 
future  dark  state  of  the  church,  says,  through  Zech. 
xii.  4;  "  In  that  day,  saith  the  LORD,  I  will  smite 


104  HOUSES. 

every  horse  with  astonishment,  and  his  rider  with  mad- 
ness :  and  I  will  open  mine  eyes  upon  the  house  of 
Judah,  and  will  smite  every  horse  of  the  people  with 
blindness."  This  prophecy  has  reference  to  the  state 
of  the  Jewish  church  when  the  Lord  should  come  in 
the  flesh.  Now,  this  prophecy  is  fulfilled ;  and  we 
know  that  every  natural  horse  was  not  smitten  with 
astonishment  and  blindness ;  while  we,  at  the  same 
time,  know  that  the  understandings  of  the  Jews  be- 
came astonished,  and  were  blind  to  the  truths  of  the 
gospel ;  and  that  they  remain  so  to  this  day. 

Again,  it  is  declared  in  Genesis  xlix.  17,  "  Dan 
shall  be  a  serpent  by  the  way,  an  adder  in  the  path, 
that  biteth  the  horse  heels,  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall 
backward."  Now,  all  see  at  once,  that  this  can  have 
no  reference  whatever  to  a  natural  serpent  or  horse. 
But  we  may  also  see  that  the  debasing  principle  in  man, 
to  which  the  serpent  corresponds,  would,  by  its  poison- 
ous bite,  soon  sicken  and  destroy  the  understanding  of 
truth,  to  which  the  horse  corresponds,  and  prostrate 
the  rider  in  sin. 

In  Habakkuk  (iii.  8,  15)  it  is  written,  "  Thou 
[Lord]  didst  ride  upon  thine  horses,  thy  chariots  of 
salvation.  Thou  didst  walk  through  the  sea  with 
thine  horses."  Now,  all  know  that  the  Lord  does  not 
ride  through  space  on  natural  horses,  nor  in  chariots, 
nor  in  the  natural  sea.  For  He  is  the  Omnipresent 
God — everywhere  at  all  times.  But  if  the  sea  denotes 
man's  knowledge  ;  horses  his  understanding  ;  chariots 
doctrines  ;  and  the  Lord,  the  Word  of  truth,  the 
passage  becomes  exceedingly  beautiful  and  instructive. 


HORSES.  105 

For,  with  the  Lord  as  the  divine  truth,  in  the  under- 
standing, we  can  ride  through  the  sea  of  our  memory, 
examine  all  the  qualities  of  our  knowledge,  and  make 
that  sea  give  up  its  dead  ;  or  cast  away  all  its  false 
and  evil  principles.  Thus  the  Lord,  as  the  Truth, 
rides  on  the  horses  of  men's  understanding,  or  enables 
them  to  progress  in  wisdom  and  goodness.  And  so  it 
is  that  the  Lord  rides  in  the  chariots  of  salvation,  or 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  Word.  For  the  Lord  is  the 
Truth  of  those  doctrines.  And  men's  understandings 
of  that  truth  are  the  horses  of  those  chariots.  And 
those  who  love  and  daily  live  in  obedience  to  those 
heavenly  doctrines,  through  the  truth  of  them  in  the 
understanding,  are  riding  with  the  Lord,  in  the  char- 
iots of  salvation.  They  are  progressing  heavenward 
with  the  Word  of  Truth.  Thus,  the  darkness  of  the 
letter  is  everywhere  made  luminous  by  the  brightness 
of  the  spirit. 

Who  can  tell,  from  the  literal  sense,  why  Elijah 
and  Elisha  were  called  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the 
horsemen  thereof.  (2  Kings  ii.  12  ;  xiii.  14.)  And 
yet,  the  doctrines  and  truths  of  the  Word,  in  their 
understandings,  as  prophets  of  the  Lord,  would  make 
them,  spiritually  speaking,  the  chariots  of  Israel  and 
the  horsemen  thereof.  The  Lord  in  Psalms  is  said  to 
make  the  clouds  his  chariot.  This  is  because,  by  the 
doctrines  of  the  literal  sense  in  the  understanding,  in  an 
makes  spiritual  progress,  when  he  looks  to  the  Lord  to 
curb  and  guide  that  understanding  in  the  use  of  that 
Word  of  Truth. 

In  Psalm  Ixxvi.  6,  we  have  this  apparently  strange 
5* 


106  HORSES. 

expression  :  "At  thy  rebuke,  0  God  of  Jacob,  both 
the  chariot  and  horse  are  cast  into  a  dead  sleep/' 
We,  of  course  know  that  there  can  be  no  such  thing 
as  the  waking  or  sleeping  of  a  natural  chariot.  But 
if  we  have  false  views  and  false  doctrines  in  our  un- 
derstandings, our  mental  horse  and  chariot  need  the 
rebuke  of  the  Lord.  And  if  we  yield  to  that  rebuke, 
they  will  be  cast  into  a  dead  sleep,  and  laid  aside  as 
useless. 

Now  the  Word  speaks  of  white  horses,  red  horses, 
"black  horses  and  pale  horses.  But  the  color  of  the 
horse  always  denotes  the  quality  of  the  knowledge  in 
the  understanding.  A  white  horse  signifies  true  knowl- 
edge, or  truth  in  the  understanding,  because  white 
denotes  truth.  A  black  horse  signifies  false  knowl- 
edge, or  falsehood  in  the  understanding,  because  black 
denotes  falsehood.  A  red  horse  in  a  bad  sense,  signi- 
fies guilty  knowledge,  or  crime  and  evil  in  the  under- 
standing, because  red  in  a  bad  sense,  denotes  sins.  A 
pale  horse  signifies  lifeless  knowledge  in  the  under- 
standing, or  knowledge  having  no  strength  or  power 
of  good,  because  paleness  denotes  sickness  or  death. 

Now,  all  these  kinds  of  horses  are  mentioned  in  the 
Word,  where  they  can  in  no  light  whatever,  mean 
natural  horses.  For  these  four  horses  are  mentioned 
in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Kevelation,  as  coming  out  of 
the  Book  when  the  seals  were  opened  by  the  Lord. 
And  though  this  prophecy  relates  to  the  last  judgment 
in  the  spiritual  world  ;  yet,  let  us  apply  it  to  our- 
selves individually,  for  all  Scripture  is  applicable  to 
individuals. 


HORSES.  107 

Now,  the  books  which  are  opened  at  the  Lord's 
second  coming,  are  nothing  else  than  the  Holy  Word 
and  the  books  of  life  in  human  minds.  The  under- 
standings of  men  are  opened  to  the  reception  of  the 
light  of  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word.  The  under- 
standing of  this  sense  is  really  the  white  horse  seen  in 
the  book  of  the  human  mind.  This  sense  in  the 
mind,  is  the  Lord  on  a  white  horse  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
it  is  the  spiritual  truth  of  the  Word  in  the  under- 
standing, coming  to  judgment.  This  white  horse  is 
seen  at  the  breaking  of  the  first  seal,  or  when  our 
mind  first  begins  to  receive,  by  correspondence,  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  in  a  rational  light.  Then, 
our  understanding  of  the  spiritual  truth  is  the  white 
horse.  The  new  truth  looks  pure,  white,  glorious  to 
us.  And  we  behold  the  heavenly  doctrines  with  great 
joy  and  delight.  And  we  feel  as  though  heaven  were 
indeed  near  to  us. 

But  we  have  only  been  gazing  outwardly  at  the 
glory  and  beauty  of  the  truths  ;  and  have  not  yet 
looked,  by  their  light,  in  upon  our  evils.  And  the 
Lord  now  opens  His  Word  still  further  to  our  mind, 
which  opens  the.  second  seal  of  our  book  of  life,  and  we 
begin  to  look  into  ourselves,  in  judgment  ;  and  what 
do  we  see  ?  Alas  !  a  red  horse  !  Our  understanding 
is  now  filled  with  a  view  of  our  own  evils.  Our  sins 
are  before  us,  red  as  crimson.  But  the  rider  on  the 
white  horse,  who  entered  our  mind  at  the  opening  of 
the  first  seal,  had  a  bow,  which  denotes  power  :  and 
a  crown  was  given  Him,  which  denotes  victory  and 
dominion  :  and  He  went  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 


108  HORSES. 

quer.  Thus  we  have  a  bow  and  a  crown  offered  to  us 
by  this  heavenly  truth,  which  means  that  the  Lord 
will  give  us  power  to  gain  dominion  over  our  evils. 
For  the  Lord  Himself  is  with  us,  with  the  crown  of 
His  wisdom  and  the  bow  of  His  might.  And,  not- 
withstanding the  formidable  appearance  of  the  red 
horse  and  his  mighty  rider,  with  his  great  sword,  and 
power  to  take  peace  from  the  earth  ;  yet  we  can,  with 
our  white  horse,  ride  on,  conquering  and  to  conquer  : 
we  can  overcome  every  evil. 

Then  another  seal  of  our  book  of  life  is  opened  ;  and, 
as  we  look  in,  behold  a  black  horse  presents  himself, 
with  a  rider  having  a  pair  of  balances  in  his  hand.  Our 
understanding  is  now  filled  with  a  view  of  our  falses. 
By  the  spiritual  light,  we  see  our  own  selfish  proprium, 
separate  from  what  God  gives  us,  and  it  is  all  deceit- 
fulness  and  untruth — black  with  dissimulation.  We 
even  see  a  pair  of  balances  in  our  hand,  which  we  are 
holding  out  to  make  the  world  believe  we  are  honest 
and  just.  But,  in  our  dependence  upon  the  Lord,  we 
can  surely  rout  the  black  horse  and  his  rider  ;  or  the 
falsehoods  and  powers  of  the  natural  man  ;  but  we 
must  see  that  they  hurt  not  the  oil  and  the  wine,  or 
things  good  and  true. 

And  the  fourth  seal  of  our  book  of  life  is  opened,  and 
as  we  survey  our  selfhood  closely,  by  the  divine  light, 
we  behold  a  pale  horse,  whose  rider  is  death  ;  and  hell 
follows  with  him.  It  is  a  sad  picture.  Thus  the  book 
is.  opened  gradually.  We  are  not  permitted  to  see  our- 
selves ajl^  at  once.  Here,  at  the  opening  of  this  seal, 
we  are  brought' to  see  ourselves  as  dead  in  trespasses 


HORSES.  109 

and  sins.  As  having  no  good  whatever  of  our  own  ; 
that  death  and  hell  are  in  every  unregenerate  human 
soul  ;  that  everything  good  and  true  is  of  and  from 
the  Lord  ;  and  that  we  shall  receive  them,  only  as  we 
conquer  and  overcome  our  evils,  by  new  life  from  the 
Lord,  in  obedience  to  His  Word. 

Thus  the  Lord,  as  the  divine  Truth  of  the  Word  in 
its  spiritual  sense,  is  coming  to  judgment.  He  comes 
with  the  law  of  analogy  and  the  philosophy  of  life ;  and 
with  them  He  opens  the  seals  of  our  understanding  and 
presents,  to  the  free  inquiring  mind,  a  rational  view  of 
human  nature,  at  this  age  of  the  world,  in  all  its  evils 
and  falses.  And  how  graphic  the  description  and  hu- 
miliating the  scene  !  How  it  tries  the  heart  and  the 
reins,  as  we  see  and  feel  the  force  of  its  truth  !  And 
yet,  he  who  sees  and  feels  it,  is  ready  to  say,  "Even 
so,  come  Lord  Jesus  :"  for  he  sees  his  selfishness,  and 
feels  his  dependence. 

And  how  orderly  the  book  is  opened  !  After  the 
reception  of  the  White  Horse,  or  when  we  have  seen, 
by  the  spiritual  truth  of  the  Word,  a  glimpse  of  its 
glorious  doctrines,  and  commence  looking  into  our- 
selves ;  we  first,  by  that  light,  behold  our  evils  and 
their  powers,  expressed  by  a  red  horse  and  his  rider  ; 
next,  our  falses  and  their  powers,  by  a  black  horse  and 
his  rider  ;  and  then,  our  state  of  death  and  hell,  by  a 
pale  horse  and  his  rider.  In  the  red  and  black  horses, 
we  see  great  strength  and  power.  We  see  depicted  all 
the  energy  and  force  of  the  hells.  While  in  the  pale 
horse,  we  see  our  own  weakness  and  entire  inability. 

Now  as  the  pale  horse  comes  after  the  red  and  black 


110  HORSES. 

ones,  we  are  further  taught  that  spiritual  death  and 
hell  are  produced  by  the  exercise  of  evil  affections  and 
false  thoughts  ;  and  that,  consequently,  life  and  heaven 
can  he  given,  only  in  the  exercise  of  good  affections  and 
true  thoughts.  And  that  these  can  be  received  from 
the  Lord,  only  as  we  ride  the  white  horse  with  the  bow 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  crown  of  victory  ;  going 
forth  against  our  evils  and  falses,  conquering  and  to 
conquer  ;  acknowledging,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  is 
truly  the  Lord  and  His  bow  and  His  crown,  that  gain 
the  victory. 

But  dark  and  depraved  as  the  picture  of  our  soul 
appears,  we  are  not  to  be  discouraged.  For  the  open- 
ing of  the  fifth  seal  shows  us  the  good  things  which  the 
merciful  Lord  has  stored  up  and  protected  within  us. 
As  that  seal  is  opened  it  is  said  that  we  see,  under  the 
altar,  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  Word 
of  God  ;  and  that  white  robes  were  given  them.  Now 
what  can  this  mean  ?  Like  all  other  things  of  the 
Word,  we  must  look  within  for  them  ;  for  souls  are 
elements  of  life  given  us  by  God.  And  when  we  use 
this  Scripture,  as  applied  to  ourselves  individually, 
these  souls  that  were  slain  for  the  Word  of  God  mean 
all  the  good  and  kind  germs  of  heaven  which  were  im- 
planted in  us  during  our  infancy  and  childhood  ;  and 
which,  though  they  have  been  slain  and  buried  by  our 
disorderly  lives,  yet,  are  not  destroyed.  The  merciful 
Lord  has  guarded  them.  And  now  the  divine  goodness 
and  truth  flow  down  into  them,  and  white  robes  are 
given  them.  They  rise  to  life  and  shine  with  the  truth. 
Thus  all  the  honest,  true,  virtuous,  and  affectionate 


HOUSES.  Ill 

principles  of  our  whole  life,  which  have  sprung  from 
these  germs,  and  yet  have  been  lying  dormant  for  want 
of  light,  but  which  were  internally  regarded  by  us,  are 
now  separated  from  our  evils,  and  raised  to  light  and 
life.  Nothing  good  is  lost.  And  we  are  now  enabled 
to  see,  by  the  heavenly  light,  that  while,  in  and  of  our- 
selves, we  are  spiritually  dead  ;  yet,  that  the  Lord  is 
light  and  life  for  us.  That  He  has  freely  given  to  every 
one  all  the  germs  and  elements  of  heaven.  And  that 
He  guards  and  protects  these  germs  and  elements  of 
heaven  with  all  care  ;  but  that  they  can  never  be  de- 
veloped into  a  human  soul,  of  angelic  form  and  beauty, 
without  our  cooperation.  That  the  goats,  in  us,  must 
be  separated  from  the  sheep,  by  our  free  opposition  to 
them,  and  be  cast  out  of  the  fold.  And  that  every 
principle  which  God  has  given  us— all  the  lambs  of  the 
fold — must  look  to  the  Good  Shepherd  for  sustenance, 
and  obey  His  voice. 

And  now  the  sixth  seal  of  our  book  of  life  is  opened. 
And  as  we  look  in,  we  behold,  exhibited,  our  dark  re- 
ligious views  before  we  saw  the  spiritual  light.  We 
see  the  false  ideas  we  then  had  of  God  ;  of  the  trinity  ; 
of  the  fall  ;  of  redemption  ;  of  regeneration  ;  of  resur- 
rection ;  of  judgment ;  of  heaven  ;  and  of  hell.  We 
behold,  in  the  light  of  heavenly  truth,  the  whole  pic- 
ture in  its  own  dark  colors.  And  we  see  it  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  whole  Word  of  God,  in  its  true  literal  and 
spiritual  senses.  And  it  is  declared  in  the  prophecy 
that,  at  the  beholding  of  this  scene,  "  there  was  a  great 
earthquake  ;  and  the  sun  became  black  as  sackcloth  of 
hair,  and  the  moon  became  as  blood  ;  and  the  stars  of 


112  HORSES. 

heaven  fell."  This  graphic  picture  describes  the  ap- 
pearance of  our  former  system  of  faith,  as  seen  in  the 
light  of  truth.  And  we  now  behold  it  as  without  sun, 
moon  or  stars  ;  entirely  destitute  of  all  true  light  and 
life.  It  trembles  and  quakes  before  the  light  of  truth. 
And  with  astonishment,  that  ws  ever  could  have  be- 
lieved it,  we  roll  it  together  as  a  scroll,  and  put  it  out 
of  sight.  Thus,  the  imaginary  heaven  of  our  former 
theology,  passes  away  from  our  mind,  and  we  turn  our 
faces,  with  renewed  joy  and  delight,  toward  the  new 
heaven,  which  God  is  creating  within  us  ;  where  all  is 
light  and  glorious  in  the  Lord  ;  and  only  our  remain- 
ing evils  and  falses  look  dark.  For  we  are  now  closing 
and  putting  by  our  old  book  of  life,  with  all  that  we  be- 
lieved and  loved  that  is  false  and  evil,  and  retaining  all 
that  is  good,  and  are  turning  to  the  new  book  of  love 
to  God  and  man.  Now,  an  entirely  new  theology  is 
filling  our  heart  and  mind.  Old  things  with  us  are 
passing  away,  and  the  Lord  is  making  all  things  new. 
The  New  Jerusalem  is  coming  down  ;  and  we  are  pre- 
paring to  join  the  armies  of  heaven  that  follow  the 
Lord  on  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and 
clean.  For  this  great  army  comprises  those  who  have 
the  spiritual  truth  of  the  Word  in  their  understand- 
ings. And  their  white  horses  are  nothing  but  the  un- 
derstanding of  that  truth.  And  their  white  clothing 
is  nothing  but  the  pure,  spotless  character  which  their 
love  and  devotion  to  the  truth  manifest  in  their  sphere. 
Their  warfare  is  against  nothing  but  the  evils  and 
falses  which  infest  humanity,  destroying  all  true  peace 
and  happiness.  The  horse  of  their  Commander  is 


HOUSES.  113 

nothing  but  their  own  understanding  of  the  truth  of 
the  Word.  It  is  therefore  not  a  horse  out  of  their 
minds,  but  in  them.  And  the  Commander  Himself — 
the  "King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords" — is  that  very 
divine  truth  of  the  Word.  He  is,  therefore,  not  their 
commander  out  of  them,  but  in  their  understandings  ; 
though  He  fills  the  universe. 

And  the  many  crowns  which  He  wears  are  a  crown 
each,  for  every  mind  He  enters.  And  it  becomes  an 
ensign  of  victory  to  the  man  that  wears  it  as  he, 
through  the  Lord,  conquers  the  death  and  hell  of  his 
soul.  And  the  crown  itself,  is  nothing  but  the  domin- 
ion which  truth  gains  over  his  evils  and  falsities.  And 
the  sharp  sword,  which  went  out  of  the  Lord's  mouth, 
is  nothing  but  the  divine  truth,  which  He  speaks. 
But  it  is  indeed  a  sharp  sword  against  everything  im- 
pure and  unholy,  going  forth  for  their  eternal  disper- 
sion and  destruction,  from  every  heart  that  wields  it. 

And  it  is  our  blessed  privilege,  in  the  spiritual  light 
of  the  Word  which  we  now  have,  to  make  use  of  this 
divine  sword  as  true  and  faithful  soldiers  of  the  cross. 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  therefore  means,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  divine  truth  of  the  Word, 
with  power  and  great  glory,  coming  to  establish  His 
kingdom  over  all  the  earth,  by  entering  all  human 
minds  that  will  receive  Him  ;  presenting  them  with 
the  bow  of  His  power  and  the  crown  of  His  might ; 
and  riding  on  with  them,  in  their  understandings,  con- 
quering and  to  conquer,  until  every  evil  spirit  shall  be 
driven  from  our  earth,  and  every  sinful  desire  subdued 
among  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  tongues  and  peo- 


114  HORSES. 

pie  :  when  peace  shall  rest  in  every  bosom,  joy  beam 
from  every  face,  and  plenty  crown  every  board.  And 
then,  in  view  of  the  future  life,  the  departure  from  this 
world  will  be  cheerfully  welcomed  by  every  individual, 
whenever  it  shall  please  the  Lord  to  say  to  that  indi- 
vidual, Come.  Come,  my  child.  Come  home  to  your 
Father's  house  of  many  mansions.  "  Thou  hast  been 
faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over 
many  things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord/' 
(Matt.  xxv.  21.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   CORRESPONDENCE    OF    TREES. 

"  The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to  the  cedar  that  was  in 
Lebanon,  saying,  Give  thy  daughter  to  my  son  to  wife."  (2 
Kings  xiv.  9.) 

WE  speak  this  evening  upon  the  spiritual  meaning 
of  trees,  and  their  relation  to  the  human  mind  by  cor- 
respondences. A  person  who  has  never  examined  the 
Holy  Word  with  regard  to  the  signification  of  the  trees 
and  their  use  in  the  divine  language,  would  he  much 
surprised  and  benefited  by  a  candid  and  sincere  inves- 
tigation of  this  subject.  How  few  persons  there  are, 
even  of  those  who  read  the  sacred  volume,  who  are 
really  aware  that  the  trees  are  treated  of  as  though 
they  were  rational  beings,  having  understandings  and 
wills  and  muscular  powers,  so  that  they  walk  and  talk 
and  laugh  and  sing  and  worship  and  rejoice  and  clap 
their  hands  ;  are  sometimes  in  great  happiness,  and  at 
others,  in  great  misery  ;  now  strong,  and  now  weak 
even  to  fainting  ;  one  day  in  an  Eden  of  glory,  and  the 
next  going  down  to  hell. 

To  those  who  look  not  beyond  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word,  such  things  are  little  noticed  when  read.  The 


116  TKEES 

meaning  not  being  seen,  no  impression  is  left  on  the 
mind  ;  and  the  reader  is  hardly  sensible  that  the  Word 
contains  any  such  ideas.  Thus  a  great  portion  of  the 
Holy  Word  is  of  but  little  use  to  such  minds.  For 
where  no  rational  and  practical  meaning  is  seen  in  the 
letter,  the  deeper  and  more  glorious  spirit,  the  inner 
beauty  and  excellence,  must  be  brought  out  to  view, 
or  the  mind  will  be  left  uninterested  and  uninstructed  : 
and  the  sacred  Word  will  lose  much  of  its  value  and 
influence. 

What  can  the  literalist  learn  from  our  text  ?  He 
will  say,  it  is  figurative.  And  there  he  must  stop  if 
he  sees  not  the  law  of  analogy.  He  may  guess,  and 
guess  again;  but  he  cannot  certainly  know  why  the  Lord 
said,  "  The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to  the 
cedar  that  was  in  Lebanon,  saying,  Give  thy  daughter 
to  my  son  to  wife  ;"  for,  to  know  this,  he  must  know 
what  principles  in  the  mind  are  meant  by  the  natural 
things  mentioned. 

And  so  David  says  in  prayer,  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop 
and  I  shall  be  clean  ;"  and  we,  in  our  worship  repeat 
the  same  prayer.  But  we  are  privileged  to  know,  by 
the  spiritual  light  of  the  word,  that  by  hyssop  is  meant 
external  truth,  which  is  a  means  of  purification.  And 
when  we  say,  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop,"  we  mean, 
Cleanse  me  with  truth.  But,  without  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences, whose  eye  beholds  this  passage  and  attach- 
es any  positive  or  certain  signification  to  hyssop  ?  Yet 
how  interesting  it  must  be,  to  one  who  is  thirsting  for 
the  pure  water  of  life,  to  know  definitely  what  the  Lord 
means  when  He  speaks.  But.  how  can  we  know  that 


TREES.  117 

hyssop  denotes  natural  truth  ?  If  we  were  far  enough 
advanced  to  see  the  relation  between  natural  things  and 
mental,  we  should  know  at  once.  But  not  having  that 
knowledge,  we  must  look  to  the  Holy  Word  and  to  the 
revealed  science  of  correspondences  for  it.  In  the  first 
place  we  know,  by  the  general  law,  that  as  God  is  Love 
and  Wisdom  ;  and  that  Love  and  Wisdom  are  com- 
posed of  goods  and  truths  in  infinite  variety,  forming 
a  perfect  whole  ;  and  as  all  natural  things  were  created 
by,  or  sprang  from  that  infinite  goodness  and  truth,  so 
each  natural  thing  must  correspond  to  some  truth  or 
some  good  either  in  true  or  in  inverted  order.  And  as 
we  further  know,  that  purging  or  cleansing  of  the 
mind,  must  be  done  by  truths  ;  we  may  therefore  see 
that  as  hyssop  is  always  used  in  the  Word  for  cleans- 
ing, it  must  denote  natural  truth  in  its  cleansing  prop- 
erties. For  the  various  loves  of  self,  from  which  we 
are  to  be  purified,  cannot  be  known  but  by  the  light 
of  natural  truth,  and  therefore  cannot  be  otherwise 
removed.  For  truths  cannot  be  used  for  cleansing 
until  they  are  known  :  because  cleansing  is  a  work 
which  cannot  be  done  in  the  dark.  We  may  therefore 
see,  from  the  general  light  before  us,  that  to  purge 
witli  hyssop  must  mean  to  cleanse  with  truths.  There- 
fore hyssop  is  always  used,  v/herever  it  occurs  in  the 
Word,  for  cleansing. 

Cjdar  wood  and  hyssop  are  sometimes  mentioned  in 
connection,  for  cleansing,  where  cedar  means  internal 
or  spiritual  truths,  and  hyssop  external  or  natural 
truths.  That  hyssop  denotes  lower  truth  and  cedar 
higher,  is  evident  from  1  Kings  iv.  33,  where  it  speaks  of 


118  TREES. 

"  trees,  from  the  cedar  tree  that  is  in  Lebanon  even 
unto  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  wall :"  thus 
embracing  the  whole  range  of  truths,  from  spiritual 
to  natural. 

Trees  in  general,  in  a  good  sense,  signify  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  or  the  church  in  them,  as  to  intel- 
ligence from  its  doctrines,  and  from  the  truths  of  the 
Word.  Sometimes  they  denote  the  good  desires  men 
feel,  and  the  works  they  perform.  In  a  bad  sense,  they 
signify  the  opposites  of  these. 

The  natural  forest  has  long  been  admired  as  an  em- 
blem of  the  human  family.  For  in  the  woods,  as 
among  men,  are  all  ages,  from  the  great-great-grand- 
father down  to  infancy  ;  and  the  prior  generations  lie 
scattered  on  the  ground.  We  behold  the  beautiful 
tree  and  the  ugly,  the  wholesome  and  the  poisonous,  the 
perfect  and  the  injured,  the  fruitful  arid  the  barren,  the 
free  and  the  cross-grained,  the  smooth  and  the  thorny, 
the  crooked  and  the  straight,  the  healthy  and  the  sick, 
the  living  and  the  dead  ;  the  black,  white,  red,  brown 
and  yellow  ;  some  dying  of  good  old  age,  others  swept 
away  by  the  tornado  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  others 
crushed  in  infancy  and  childhood.  Thus  the  forest,  in 
a  natural  point  of  view,  is  a  beautiful  emblem  of  the 
human  family. 

But  the  scene  becomes  doubly  interesting  and  im- 
portant when  we  perceive  that  there  is  a  perfect  and 
eternal  law  of  analogy  between  mankind  and  the  trees, 
both  cultivated  and  uncultivated.  When  we  under- 
stand that  the  varieties  and  qualities  of  the  trees  are 
the  result  of  the  varieties  and  qualities  of  the  spiritual 


TREES.  119 

states,  principles  and  propensities  of  men  ;  and  that 
all  that  is  said  of  them,  in  the  Word,  is  symbolically 
expressive  of  the  qualities  of  men's  hearts  and  minds  ; 
and  that  in  these  familiar  symbols,  we  may  learn  hu- 
man nature,  and  the  will  of  our  heavenly  Father,  and 
the  way  of  eternal  life,  and  behold  the  invisible  things 
of  God  from  the  creation  of  the  world  : — I  say.  When 
we  understand  this,  we  are  prepared  to  say  with  the 
Psalmist,  "  The  trees  of  the  LORD  are  full  of  sap  ; 
the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  which  He  hath  planted/' 
"  Praise  ye  Him,  sun  and  moon  :  praise  Him,  all  ye 
stars  of  light."  "  Mountains,  and  all  hills  ;  fruitful 
trees,  and  all  cedars  :  beasts,  and  all  cattle.  .  .  ,  Praise 
ye  the  LORD."  For  in  saying  this  we  are  only  calling 
upon  man  to  praise  the  Lord  with  all  the  principles  and 
elements  of  his  nature,  to  which  these  natural  things 
correspond. 

In  Judges,  we  have  this  singular  parable.  "  The 
trees  went  forth  to  anoint  a  king  over  them  ;  and  they 
said  unto  the  olive-tree,  Reign  thou  over  us.  But  the 
olive-tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave  my  fatness, 
wherewith  by  me  they  honor  God  and  man,  and  go  to. 
be  promoted  over  the  trees  ?  And  the  trees  said  to  the 
fig-tree,  Come  thou,  and  reign  over  us.  But  the  fig- 
tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  forsake  my  sweetness, 
and  my  good  fruit,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the  trees  ? 
Then  said  the  trees  unto  the  vine,  Come  thou,  and 
reign  over  us.  And  the  vine  said  unto  them,  Should  I 
leave  my  wine,  which  cheereth  God  and  man,  and  go 
to  be  promoted  over  the  trees  ?  Then  said  all  the  trees 
unto  the  bramble,  Come  thou,  and  reign  over  us.  And 


120  TREES. 

the  bramble  said  unto  the  trees,  If  in  truth  ye  anoint 
me  king  over  you,  then  come  and  put  your  trust  in  my 
shadow  :  and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble, 
and  devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon."  (ix.  8-15.) 

Before  the  spiritual  sense  of  this  parable  can  be 
known,  it  must  be  understood  what  is  meant  by  the 
olive-tree,  the  fig-tree,  the  vine,  and  the  bramble. 
The  olive-tree  here  signifies  celestial  good  ;  the  vine, 
spiritual  good  ;  the  fig-tree,  natural  good  ;  and  the 
bramble,  spurious  good.  By  celestial  good  we  mean 
that  principle  or  state  of  heart  which  loves  God  or 
goodness  supremely :  by  spiritual  good,  that  state 
which  loves  the  Word  or  truth  supremely  :  and  by 
natural  good,  that  state  which  loves  kind  words  or  use 
supremely  :  but  by  spurious  good,  we  mean  a  perverted 
state  of  heart,  which  loves  evil  and  self  supremely. 

The  trees,  in  this  parable,  denote  the  people  of  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  in  that  age,  who  had  become  so  cor- 
rupt that  they  would  not  be  ruled  by  the  Lord.  They 
also  denote  any  people  of  any  age  who  are  thus  cor- 
rupt. By  the  refusal  of  the  olive-tree  to  reign  over 
them,  we  learn  that  they  were  too  low  to  be  governed 
by  internal  or  celestial  goodness,  or  by  love  to  God. 
For  the  olive-tree  says,  Should  I  leave  my  fatness, 
wherewith  by  me  they  honor  God  and  man  ?  This 
fatness  denotes  the  good  of  celestial  love,  or  love  to 
God.  Therefore  to  be  their  king,  the  olive-tree  would 
have  to  leave  his  fatness  before  the  trees  would  pro- 
mote him.  For  when  the  olive-tree  replied  to  their 
call,  saying,  Shall  I  leave  my  fatness,  wherewith  they 
honor  God  and  man,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 


TREES.  121 

trees  ?  they  made  no  reply,  but  turned  to  the  fig-tree. 
Gladly  would  the  olive-tree  have  reigned  over  them, 
had  they  yielded  to  his  goodness. 

By  the  refusal  of  the  fig-tree,  we  learn  that  they 
were  too  depraved  to  submit  to  the  government  of  even 
external  or  natural  good  springing  from  the  love  of 
obedience.  For  the  fig-tree  says,  Should  I  forsake  my 
sweetness,  and  my  good  fruit  ?  And  what  is  more 
sweet  than  natural  kindness  and  mercy  carried  out  in 
good  works  or  fruits  ?  The  people  were  not  willing  to 
come  under  the  laws  of  good  works  and  do  as  they 
would  be  done  by.  And  they  would  not  promote  the 
fig-tree,  unless  he  would  forsake  these  heavenly  princi- 
ples, and  give  them  laws  more  in  accordance  with  their 
self-love. 

By  the  refusal  of  the  vine,  we  learn  that  they  would 
not  be  governed  by  spiritual  goodness,  springing  from 
the  love  of  truth.  For  the  vine  said,  Should  I  leave 
my  wine,  which  cheereth  God  and  man  ?  They  were 
not  willing  to  love  the  truth,  and  be  governed  by  that 
love  :  and  therefore,  they  would  not  promote  the  vine, 
unless  he  would  throw  off  that  restraint  from  his  gov- 
ernment. 

But,  by  their  consenting  to  be  governed  by  the  bram- 
ble, they  show  that  they  were  in  the  love  of  perverted 
goodness  ;  of  hypocrisy  and  self  hooci ;  and  so  they 
chose  that  these  principles  of  their  nature,  represented 
by  the  bramble,  should  govern  their  conduct.  They 
were  willing  to  put  .themselves  under  the  darkening 
shadow  of  their  own  licentiousness — the  vile  bramble  of 
self-love.  And  here  they  expected  to  be  satisfied  and 

6 


122  TEEES. 

happy.  But  as  predicted,  fire  came  out  of  the  bramble 
and  devoured  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  lusts  of  evil  and  self-love  destroyed  in  them 
all  the  remaining  principles  of  truth  and  good. 

This  parable,  though  particularly  applicable  to  the 
age  in  which  it  was  written,  comes,  with  its  blessed  in- 
struction, like  all  other  portions  of  the  divine  Word,  to 
every  individual  of  depraved  humanity  in  all  ages  ;  and 
it  proposes  to  him  the  solemn  question,  By  what  are 
you  governed  ?  the  olive,  the  fig,  the  vine,  or  the 
bramble  ?  And  how  shall  we  individually  answer  ? 
Who  can  say  he  is  governed  by  the  olive — the  pure  love 
of  interior  goodness  ?  To  whom  of  us  does  not  the 
olive-tree  say,  Should  I  leave  my  fatness  to  be  pro- 
moted over  you  ?  Or  who  is  willing  to  submit  to  the 
pure  government  of  the  olive  ?  None  of  us  is  ready  to 
say  he  is  governed  by  that  pure  love.  And  who  of  us 
can  say  he  has  the  vine  for  a  governor  ?  Who  feels 
that  he  is  governed,  in  his  conduct,  by  the  pure  love  of 
the  truth  ?  To  whom  does  not  the  vine  say,  Should  I 
leave  my  wine — my  heavenly  truth — and  come  down 
to  your  state  and  receive  your  selfish  promotion  ?  Yes, 
we  ask,  who  is  entirely  ready  to  fully  submit  to  the 
government  of  spiritual  truth  ?  I  know  of  none  that 
would  say  I,  to  this  question.  And  who  can  even  say 
he  is  governed  by  the  fig-tree — the  full  love  of  natural 
goodness — whereby  he  obediently  and  affectionately 
keeps  the  commandments  of  his  divine  Master  ?  It  is 
a  great  deal  to  be  in  so  good  a  state  as  not  to  have  the 
fig-tree  say,  Should  I  forsake  my  sweetness,  and  my 
good  fruit,  in  order  to  gain  your  approbation  and  re- 


TKEES.  123 

ceive  your  vote  to  become  your  king  ?  I  do  not  know 
who  considers  himself  fully  governed  by  the  fig-tree. 

Sad,  then,  indeed  is  the  spiritual  state  of  mankind, 
even  in  this  age  of  freedom  and  science.  The  most 
that  the  best  are  willing  to  say  is,  that  they  hope  they 
are,  to  some  extent,  governed  by  these  heavenly  prin- 
ciples of  the  Lord  ;  and  that  they  are  praying  and 
striving,  by  the  powers  of  the  blessed  Spirit,  to  become 
wholly  released  from  the  brambles  of  self-love. 

But  the  question  is  asked,  How  are  we  to  know  that 
the  olive,  vine  and  fig-tree  mean  what  is  here  stated  ? 
Are  we  to  take  a  man's  word  for  it  ?  We  answer,  No  : 
God's  Word  clearly  teaches  it.  In  the  first  place,  with 
these  significations  of  these  trees,  we  have  rational  in- 
struction, from  the  parable  explained,  and  receive  from 
it  useful  rules  of  life.  But,  without  the  spiritual 
meaning,  it  teaches  us  nothing.  Here  is  at  once  an  evi- 
dence of  its  truth. 

The  olive-tree  signifies  celestial  good,  from  the  qual- 
ity of  the  tree.  It  is  a  tree  of  oil.  Oil  denotes  this 
goodness.  Oil  burns,  and  its  fire  denotes  love.  So 
celestial  goodness  burns  with  heavenly  love,  to  the  Lord. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is  said,  in  prophecy,  through 
Jeremiah,  of  the  church,  when  in  order,  "  The  LORD 
called  thy  name,  A  green  olive-tree,  fair,  and  of  goodly 
fruit."  Now,  for  a  church  or  an  individual  to  be  a 
green  olive-tree,  fair,  and  of  goodly  fruit,  is  to  be  alive 
in  love  to  the  Lord,  bearing  the  fruits  of  kindness  and 
love  to  the  neighbor.  That  olive-trees  mean  celestial 
principles  of  the  mind,  or  men  of  those  principles,  is 
evident  from  the  condition  in  which  olive-trees  were 


124 


seen  in  the  spiritual  world.  For  nothing  exists  or  is 
seen  in  the  spiritual  world,  but  principles  of  the  mind 
and  the  persons  from  whom  those  principles  are  mani- 
fest ;  for  that  is  a  world  of  mind. 

Zechariah  saw  two  olive-trees  in  the  spiritual  world. 
They  were  called  the  two  anointed  ones  that  stand  hy 
the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth.  They  were  seen  standing 
by  two  golden  candlesticks.  And  they  are  called  the 
two  witnesses.  And  the  candlesticks  are  also  called  the 
two  witnesses.  Now,  that  these  candlesticks  and  olive- 
trees  denote  principles  of  the  mind,  we  may  know,  by 
their  being  called  the  two  witnesses.  Saint  John  saw 
these  witnesses,  and  says,  "  These  are  the  two  olive- 
trees,  and  the  two  candlesticks  standing  before  the  God 
of  the  earth."  These  two  witnesses  are  love  to  God 
and  the  neighbor.  They  signify  man's  heavenly  state 
of  mind.  These  principles  are  the  witnesses,  or  evi- 
dences of  our  preparation  for  heaven.  And  they  who 
possess  them  are  called  olive-trees.  Thus,  David,  who 
represented  the  Lord,  says,  "  I  am  like  a  green  olive- 
tree  in  the  house  of  my  God." 

That  the  vine  denotes,  in  this  parable,  spiritual 
goodness,  or  spiritual  truth  loved,  is  abundantly  evi- 
dent from  the  Word  ;  indeed  we  could  cite  a  volume. 
The  Lord,  as  to  His  spiritual  principle,  as  the  Word, 
which  is  the  truth,  says,  "  I  am  the  vine/'  And  the 
fact  that  wine  corresponds  to  spiritual  truth,  is  evi- 
dence enough. 

And  that  the  fig-tree  corresponds  to  natural  good, 
may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  often  when  natural 
goodness  and  truth  are  described  in  the  Word  by 


TREES.  125 

works,  use  is  made  of  the  fig-tree,  or  of  figs,  or  fig- 
leaves  ;  as  in  Jeremiah,  when  the  people  did  not  bring 
forth  the  fruits  of  external  faith  and  obedience  ;  the 
prophet  says,  "  There  shall  be  no  ....  figs  on  the 
fig-tree,  and  the  leaf  shall  fade."  But  when  the 
people  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  kindness,  in  good 
works,  it  is  written  in  Joel,  "  The  fig-tree  yields  its 
strength."  A  judgment  was  executed  upon  the  fig- 
tree,  because  it  did  not  bear  fruit.  This  was  to  teach 
man  that  he  must  do  the  works — the  external  things. 
And  the  Lord  says  to  that  fig-tree,  "  No  man  eat  fruit 
of  thee  hereafter  for  ever."  "  And  presently  the  fig- 
tree  withered  away."  It  was  because  the  fig-tree  de- 
notes works  of  kindness  and  mercy  that  if  was  selected 
by  the  Lord  to  teach  this  lesson.  And  though  a  judg- 
ment was  passed  upon  the  barren  fig-tree,  yet  it  was 
spiritually  passed  upon  the  unfruitful  man. 

The  principles  represented  in  this  parable,  by  the  fig, 
the  vine  and  the  olive,  which  are  the  natural,  the  spirit- 
ual and  the  celestial,  are  often  mentioned  together  in 
the  Holy  Word  ;  the  same  as  corn,  wine  and  oil, 
which  represent  the  same  things.  They  point  to  the 
three  great  essential  principles  in  God — power,  wisdom 
and  love.  In  man,  they  are  use,  truth  and  goodness  ; 
or  works,  fakh  and  charity,  symbolized  in  the  parable 
by  the  fig,  the  vine  and  the  olive.  And  they  are 
brought  up  in  the  parable  to  teach  us  that  unless  we 
are  governed  by  some  one  of  these  principles,  we  shall 
be  lost — destroyed  by  the  fire  of  the  bramble,  or  of  self- 
love. 

In  the  celestial  heavens,  the  angels  are  governed  by 


126  TREES. 

the  olive-tree,  or  by  celestial  good,  which  is  the  love  of 
good. 

In  the  spiritual  heavens,  they  are  governed  by  the 
vine,  or  by  spiritual  good,  which  is  the  love  of  truth. 

In  the  natural  heavens,  they  are  governed  by  the  fig- 
tree,  or  by  natural  good,  which  is  the  love  of  use,  or 
of  good  works. 

Therefore,  to  be  governed  by  either  of  these  loves, 
will  give  us  heaven — the  love  of  good,  the  love  of  truth, 
or  the  love  of  use.     But  if  not  willing  to  be  governed, 
by  either,  the  vile  bramble  must  take  us. 

That  trees  denote  persons  as  well  as  principles,  may 
be  known  by  any  one  who  will  carefully  and  candidly 
examine  the  thirty-first  chapter  of  Ezekiel.  For  there, 
Pharaoh  is  called  the  Assyrian,  and  also  a  cedar  of 
Lebanon.  And  this  cedar  had  grown  so  great,  shot  up 
its  top  so  high,  and  spread  out  its  branches  so  wide, 
that  "  all  the  fowls  of  heaven  made  their  nests  in  his 
boughs,  and  under  his  branches  did  all  the  beasts  of 
the  field  bring  forth  their  young,  and  undar  his  shadow 
dwelt  all  great  nations."  Hs  became  so  great,  that 
"  all  the  trees  of  Eden,  that  were  in  the  garden  of  God, 
envied  him."  "  The  fir-trees  were  not  like  his  boughs, 
and  the  chestnut-trees  were  not  like  his  branches  ;" 
and  even  "  the  cedars  in  the  garden  of  God  could  not 
hide  him."  But,  from  the  height  of  this  glory  he  fell. 
And  at  his  fall,  "  all  the  trees  of  the  field  fainted." 
And  it  is  declared  by  the  Lord  that  all  the  trees  of 
EJen,  the  choicest  and  best  of  Lebanon,  shall  be  com- 
forted in  the  nether  parts  of  the  earth  :  And  that  they 
also  went  down  into  hell  with  him.  And  when  they 


TREES.  127 

went  down  the  Lord  says,  "  I  covered  the  deep  for  him, 
and  I  restrained  the  floods  thereof,  and  the  great  waters 
were  stayed." 

Now,  although  it  is  at  once  obvious,  by  this  chap- 
ter, that  trees  signify  persons  or  principles  in  them, 
and  although  the  last  sentence  in  the  chapter  declares 
that  this  is  Pharaoh  and  all  his  multitude  ;  yet,  to 
simply  know  this  and  no  more,  is  of  but  little  use.  The 
essential  teachings  cannot  be  known  without  the  sci- 
ence of  correspondences.  For,  how'is  a  man  to  know, 
from  mere  fanciful  tropes  and  figures  of  speech,  what 
these  things  mean  ?  He  cannot  thus  know  them.  But 
the  Most  High  God  speaks  not  in  so  weak  and  uncer- 
tain a  language  as  metaphor.  His  speech  is  eternal 
and  unchangeable,  definite  and  sure,  carrying  in  its 
bosom  spirit  and  life.  It  is  yea  and  amen  ;  positive 
and  certain  :  and  so  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read. 
But  if  we  would  truly  read,  we  must  run :  and  the  race 
must  be  heavenward. 

We  have  not  space  to  give  the  spiritual  signification 
of  this  chapter,  but  will  glance  at  some  of  its  leading 
features.  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt  represents  the  natu- 
ral man  in  the  love  of  science  ;  and  progressing  in  sci- 
entific wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  thereby  gaining 
great  power  and  influence,  becoming  envied  and  ad- 
mired for  his  vast  acquirements  and  superior  excellence, 
until  he  becomes  great  in  his  own  estimation,  inflated 
with  self-love,  and  thus  he  falls  into  ruinous  evils. 
The  various  conditions  of  the  trees  and  birds  and  beasts, 
and  the  waters,  show  the  operations  of  the  various  prin- 
ciples of  his  mind  to  which  these  natural  things  cor- 


128  TREES. 

respond  as  lie  rises  to  the  zenith  of  his  glory  and  falls 
into  darkness  and  death.  And  in  the  sure  language  of 
God,  we  may  find  it  exceedingly  interesting  and  in- 
structive, as  applicahle  to  our  natural  man  by  the  rules 
of  analogy.  And  these  correspondences  may  be  abun- 
dantly sustained  from  the  Word  ;  for  they  are  among 
the  most  common  symbols,  and  always  mean  precisely 
the  same  things  when  used  in  the  same  relations. 

And  what  a  beautiful  history  this  parable  gives  of 
the  scientific  development  of  the  human  mind  :  and 
then  of  its  becoming  proud  of  its  own  wisdom,  forget- 
ful of  its  God  as  the  fountain  of  knowledge,  and  thus 
wise  in  its  own  eyes,  until  it  falls  into  spiritual  death  ! 
And  what  a  warning  to  us,  lest  we  become  inflated 
with  self-importance  in  consequence  of  the  wisdom  we 
see  in  this  heavenly  light ;  and  thus  imagine  ourselves 
good  and  wise  above  our  neighbors,  until  we  lose  the 
pure,  interior  light  in  the  false  glare  of  self-derived  in- 
telligence ! 

But  to  our  text.  "  The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon 
sent  to  the  cedar  that  was  in  Lebanon,  saying,  Give 
thy  daughter  to  my  son  to  wife."  From  what  has 
been  said,  all  must  be  ready  to  look  into  the  mind  for 
the  thistle  and  the  cedar.  And  while  the  cedar  denotes 
the  spiritual  man,  or  high  interior  truths,  the  thistle 
denotes  a  low,  external,  vicious  principle.  As  natural 
thistles  choke  the  good  seeds  of  earth  and  prevent  their 
growth,  so  they  correspond  to  those  falsities  of  the 
mind  which  prevent  the  divine  seed  of  the  Word  from 
taking  root  in  the  heart. 

Hosea,  prophesying  of  the  fallen  state  of  the  church 


TREES.  129 

says,  "The  thorn  and  the  thistle  shall  come  up  on 
their  altars."  Now,  the  true  altar  where  the  real  in- 
cense is  offered  to  God  is  the  grateful  and  contrite 
heart.  Wicked  hearts  are  therefore  the  altars  to  which 
the  prophet  here  alludes.  For  natural  thistles  grow 
not  upon  the  altars  of  churches. 

"  The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon."  Lebanon  is  a 
mountain  in  Palestine.  In  the  Word,  a  mountain  de- 
notes a  high  state  of  the  mind,  either  for  good  or  for 
evil.  The  thistle  here  denotes  a  false  and  vile  princi- 
ple, and  the  cedar  a  true  and  virtuous  one.  And  both 
of  these  principles  may  be  in  the  same  mind,  or  may 
not.  The  will  is  the  female  element  of  the  mind,-  and 
the  understanding  is  the  male  element.  The  daughter 
of  the  cedar,  therefore,  is  a  young  and  noble  principle 
of  the  will  ;  and  the  son  of  the  thistle  is  a  young  and 
vicious  principle  of  the  understanding.  Thus,  as  re- 
gards the  same  mind  ;  the  thistle  or  a  falsity  in  the 
male  department  of  the  mind  is  asking  for  a  union  with 
the  cedar  or  with  a  virtue,  in  the  female  department. 
Or  in  other  words  ;  some  falsity  in  the  understanding 
is  seeking  a  marriage  with  some  good  in  the  will.  Now, 
vicious  principles  of  the  mind  are  always  striving  to 
bring  down  to  their  level  the  virtuous  principles  ;  to 
unite  the  cedar  with  the  thistle. 

But  we  have  not  only  the  thistle  and  the  cedar  in  the 
same  mind  ;  but  we  have  the  thistles  and  cedars  of 
society.  Where  the  thistle  principle  in  a  man  rules, 
he  may  be  called  a  thistle  ;  where  the  cedar  prin- 
ciple rules,  he  may  be  called  a  cedar.  And  let  the 
young  men,  the  noble  young  cedars  of  the  community 


130  TKEES. 

beware,  lest  they  be  led  astray  by  the  thistles  that  stroll 
in  our  streets,  and  which  lure  to  the  dens  of  intemper- 
ance and  vice.  For  if  they  once  fall  into  the  embrace 
of  the  thistle,  they  will  be  in  danger  of  coming  to  the 
same  end  as  the  thistle  in  the  text  ;  which  is  deplora- 
ble enough.  For  the  words  following  our  text  declare, 
that  "  there  passed  by  a  wild  beast  that  was  in  Leba- 
non, and  trode  down  the  thistle  ;"  thus  showing  that 
such  principles  are  low  as  the  dust,  and  are  under  the 
very  feet  of  the  wild  and  unsubdued  passions  of  the 
perverted  will ;  trodden  under  the  feet  of  wild  beasts. 

But  in  these  latter  days  the  Lord  is  mercifully  pro- 
viding us  with  a  safeguard  against  all  these  evils  by 
opening  to  us  the  deeper  truths  of  His  Word  whereby 
we  may  scan  ourselves  to  the  bottom,  understand  the 
causes  and  consequences  of  transgression,  and  see  the 
way  of  escape  from  every  vice.  Then  let  us  receive 
the  Holy  Word  to  our  bosoms,  seek  its  divine  light, 
yield  to  its  divine  power,  and  thus  ascend  Mount  Leba- 
non to  its  summit,  where  we  can  stand  among  its  heav- 
enly cedars  and  hold  familiar  converse  with  the  lovely 
trees  of  Eden  in  the  paradise  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SYMBOLIC    MEANING     OF     HEAVENS     AND     EARTH,    SUN, 
MOON    AND    STARS. 

"  The  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her 
light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the 
heavens  shall  be  shaken."  (Matt.  xxiv.  29.) 

HERE  are  divine  ideas  contained  in  human  language 
— the  mere  words  of  men.  But  there  is  a  divine  speech 
within,  the  idiom  of  which  is  analogical.  This  analo- 
gy enables  us  to  perceive  something  of  the  divine  idea 
in  and  through  the  human  speech.  This  analogy  ex- 
ists in  and  throughout  nature.  There  we  are  to  look 
for  it,  there  we  are  to  study  it  as  the  law  of  life.  It  is 
that  law  which  connects  the  creation  with  the  Creator. 
And  by  it  we  are  to  look  through  the  visible  universe 
into  the  mind,  of  the  Creator,  and  also  into  the  minds 
of  men,  the  images  of  God.  God's  language  therefore 
is  not  an  empty  sign  of  ideas,  but  a  living  sign,  ex- 
pressive of  the  laws  of  life.  It  is  neither  Hebrew  nor 
Greek,  nor  any  other  human  language.  But  as  all  hu- 
man dialects  are  taken  from  nature,  and  as  God  fills 
nature,  so  he  speaks  in  any  one  of  the  human  lan- 
guages, when  the  words  are  so  selected  and  arranged 


132  HEAVENS   AND    EARTH, 

as  to  contain  divine  ideas  by  correspondences.  God's 
language  therefore  is  substantial  life  ;  the  very  life 
which  exists  throughout  nature  and  speaks  through  it : 
for  He  says,  "  The  words  which  I  speak  unto  you,  they 
are  spirit  and  they  are  life."  Thus  the  things  of  na- 
.  ture  are  all  letters  and  syllables,  words  and  sentences, 
spoken  by  ten  thousand  tongues,  all  in  action  from  the 
living  universal  speech  of  God.  Our  heavenly  Father 
therefore,  in  order  to  speak  to  His  children  and  teach 
them  the  nature  of  Himself  and  the  laws  of  life,  by 
written  words,  had  to  come  down  to  man's  own  lan- 
guage, and  thus  clothe  His  divine  speech  in  the  com- 
mon, finite  words  of  the  people.  This  was  the  only 
way  He  could  reach  our  capacities.  But,  by  His  di- 
vine influence,  He  enabled  the  writers  of  His  Word,  to 
so  select  the  words  and  frame  the  sentences  as  to  con- 
tain, by  correspondences,  a  spiritual  or  divine  sense, 
which  can  be  seen  only  by  the  divine  law  of  analogy. 

Thus  God  speaks  to  us,  in  man's  own  language,  in 
the  literal  sense  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  divine 
speech  in  the  spiritual  sense.  But  in  reading  the 
Word,  some  see  only  man's  language.  Yet,  as  it  is 
divinely  arranged  and  infilled  with  life  by  correspond- 
ences, even  the  literal  sense  contains  a  power  which  is 
felt  in  no  other  human  composition.  And  if  men  hum- 
bly receive  it  and  obey  its  literal  commands,  it  will 
surely  take  them  to  heaven  ;  because,  from  its  internal 
powers  it  will  make  them  heavenly.  Why  then,  it  may 
be  asked,  is  any  further  sense  necessary  ?  We  answer, 
because  the  true  literal  sense  has,  in  many  of  its  doc- 
trines, been  falsified  by  the  traditions  of  men  ;  and  the 


SUX,    MOON    AND    STARS.  133 

scientific  world  is  passing  it  by  as  not  a  divine  work. 
The  time,  therefore,  has  arrived  for  the  Lord  to  appear 
as  the  spirit  and  life  of  that  Book,  that  He  may  there- 
in reach,  anew,  the  souls  of  men,  through  their  rational 
faculties  ;  expressing  at  the  same  time,  the  truth  of 
the  letter  and  the  power  and  glory  of  the  Spirit.  While, 
therefore,  some  persons  see  in  the  Bible  only  the  lan- 
guage of  men,  others  see  therein,  the  language  of  God. 

But  the  divine  speech,  is  the  great  language — the 
universal  speech — the  one  in  which  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  are  conversing  together — the  one  which  we  shall 
all  speak  in  the  spiritual  world.  And  because  of  the 
high  importance  of  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Holy 
Word,  the  literal  sense  in  many  places,  is  given  only 
for  the  sake  of  the  spiritual.  And  in  these  instances 
the  letter  is  often  totally  dark  and  incomprehensible, 
until  the  spiritual  sense  is  seen.  Such  is  the  case  with 
our  text.  The  letter  alone  is  total  darkness.  Science 
looks  it  in  the  face  and  exclaims,  What  !  The  stars 
fall  from  heaven  to  this  earth  !  And  what  are  the  stars 
but  vast  suns  to  other  systems  ?  And,  which  way  is 
down  from  those  great  centres  ?  And  what,  in  com- 
parison, is  this  little  planet  upon  which  we  live,  but  a 
mere  atom  of  dust  ?  How  is  it  to  draw  the  universe 
to  its  comparative  nothingness  ?  And  where  would  it 
and  its  inhabitants  be,  if  it  were  in  the  centre  of  the 
whole  immense  mass  of  all  matter,  in  one  solid  body  ? 
An  1  how  could  the  Lord  then  come  to  us  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  ?  For,  following  our  text,  and  after  the 
stars  have  fallen  the  narrative  says,  "  And  then  shall 
all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see 


134  HEAVENS    AND     EABTH, 

the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with 
power  and  great  glory/'  Let  us  then  seek  the  spiritual 
import  of  our  text,  and,  thereby  a  true  knowledge  of 
the  subject  before  us. 

Our  full  theme  is,  The  symbolic  meaning  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  as  un- 
derstood in  the  divine  language.  And  as  the  human 
mind  is  a  microcosm,  or  world  in  miniature,  and  the 
universe  of  things  corresponds  to  it,  so  the  phrase, 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  means  the  human  mind. — 
The  heavens,  the  internal  mind  or  the  spiritual  man  ; 
and  the  earth,  the  external  mind,  or  natural  man.  In 
the  internal  plane  of  the  mind,  we  hold  communion 
with  our  God,  and  with  heavenly  things.  In  the  ex- 
ternal plane,  we  have  intercourse  with  men,  and  with 
earthly  things.  We  feel  conscious  of  an  elevation  of 
mind  above  natural  things,  when  we  enter  into  our 
closet,  in  devotional  meditations.  And  there,  through 
the  Word,  we  receive  light  from  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness ;  or  the  divine  truth  comes  to  illumine,  warm  and 
fructify  our  earth  or  natural  mind,  that  it  may  bring 
forth  the  fruits  of  good  works  ;  the  same  correspond- 
entially  as  the  natural  earth  receives  light  and  warmth 
from  the  sun  of  the  natural  heavens,  that  it  may  yield 
its  fruits. 

Now,  the  Holy  Word  commences  by  saying,  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  And 
the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void."  And  the  order 
which  follows,  in  the  chapter,  shows,  by  analogy,  the 
process  of  the  creation  of  this  mental  heaven  and  earth, 
or  of  man,  until  we  see  him  in  the  full  human  form,  in 


SUN,    MOON    AND    STARS.  135 

the  image  and  likeness  of  his  God.  Now  this  image 
and  likeness  is  what  makes  man  to  be  the  church  ;  for 
the  image  is  the  divine  truth,  and  the  likeness  is  the 
divine  good,  in  man  ;  and  these  constitute  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  the  human  mind.  And  because  by  an- 
alogy the  divine  phrase,  "  The  heavens  and  the  earth," 
means  the  human  mind  and  not  the  natural  universe, 
therefore,  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  or  of  the  human  mind,  is  not  confined  to 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis. 

The  Lord  says  in  Isaiah,  "  Behold,  I  create  new- 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  :  and  the  former  shall  not  be 
remembered,  nor  come  into  mind/'  Now  what  is  meant 
by  the  former  heavens  and  earth,  which  are  not  to  be 
remembered,  unless  it  be  the  very  heavens  and  earth 
which  the  same  Bible  mentions  as  having  been  created 
in  the  beginning  ?  It  is  positively  certain  that  the 
Lord  means,  by  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth,  here 
mentioned,  a  new  state  of  the  human  mind  ;  or  man 
again  restored  to  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ;  hav- 
ing his  external  mind  or  earth  in  God's  image,  and  his 
internal  mind  or  heavens  in  God's  likeness  ;  for  the 
prophecy  continues,  "  Behold,  I  create  Jerusalem  a  re- 
joicing, and  her  people  a  joy."  And  Jerusalem,  all 
may  see,  means  the  church  or  the  human  mind  in  or- 
der. Now,  this  prophecy  in  Isaiah,  relates  to  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  in  the  flesh,  for  the  establishment  of 
the  Christian  church,  or  of  a  new  state  of  the  human 
mind.  And  this  state  of  the  mind  is  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth  to  which  the  prophecy  refers.  For 
the  former  heavens  and  earth,  or  good  and  true  state 


136  HEAVENS    AND    EARTH, 

of  mind,  had  passed  awa y  in  the  progressive  fall  of 
man,  wherein  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  were  lost  ; 
and  the  new  heavens  and  earth  were  to  take  their 
place. 

In  the  prophecy  through  Jeremiah  our  Lord  says,  in 
reference  to  this  dark  state  of  the  human  mind  or  of 
the  church,  "  My  people  is  foolish,  they  have  not  known 
me  ;  they  are  sottish  children,  and  they  have  none  un- 
derstanding :  they  are  wise  to  do  evil,  hut  to  do  good 
they  have  no  knowledge.  I  beheld  the  earth,  and,  lo, 
it  was  without  form  and  void  ;  and  the  heavens,  and 
they  had  no  light.  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  there  was  no  man, 
and  all  the  birds  of  the  heavens  were  fled."  (iv.  22, 
23,  25.)  Here,  we  have  the  state  of  a  depraved  mind, 
or  of  a  consummated  church.  For  it  is  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Jewish  church  or  people,  at  the  time  the 
Lord  was  to  come  in  the  flesh,  that  this  prophecy  re- 
lates. And  how  much  it  is  like  the  description  of  the 
state  of  the  first  people  on  earth,  while  in  spiritual  ig- 
norance, before  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  established 
in  them.  For  that  narrative,  in  Genesis,  says,  "  In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 
And  the  earth  was  without  form,  -and  void  ;  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  And  the  proph- 
ecy in  Jeremiah  says,  "  I  beheld  the  earth,  and,  lo,  it 
was  without  form  and  void  ;  the  heavens,  and  they 
had  no  light.  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  there  was  no  man." 
Can  we,  then,  come  to  any  other  conclusion  than  that 
it  was  the  state  of  tho  human  mind  that  was  meant  in 
both  instances  ?  In  the  first  instance  the  minds  of  the 
first  people  were  undeveloped,  and  therefore  in  mental 


SUN,    MOON    AND    STARS.  137 

darkness  ;  their  mental  earth  was  void  of  light  and 
knowledge,  and  therefore,  formless  as  to  true  beauty  ; 
but  the  Lord  went  on  afterward  and  progressively  cre- 
ated them  in  His  own  image. 

In  the  prophecy  in  Jeremiah,  the  Jewish  mind  at 
the  coming  of  the  Lord,  was  without  form  and  void, 
because  it  was  not  symmetrical,  being  deformed  by  sin, 
and  void  of  goodness  and  truth.  Its  heavens  or  internal 
mind,  as  the  prophecy  declares,  had  no  light,  for  they 
had  ceased  to  be  spiritual.  And  the  reason  it  is  said, 
/  beheld,  and,  to,  there  was  no  man,  is,  it  requires  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God  to  make  a  real  man  ;  and 
these  they  had  lost.  And  so,  the  reason  it  is  said  that 
all  the  birds  of  heaven  had  fled  is,  all  heavenly  thoughts 
were  gone.  The  Jews  had  become  a  low,  sensual  peo- 
ple. The  natural  earth  was  not  void  nor  formless.  It 
rolled,  as  usual,  "  along  its  airy  way"  and  produced  its 
fruits  ;  while  the  heavenly  bodies  still  sent  forth  their 
cheering  light,  and  the  merry  birds  warbled  as  ever 
their  melodious  notes.  But  the  mental  earth  of  the 
people  was  without  form  and  void,  their  heavens  had 
no  light  and  the  heavenly  birds  were  fled,  and  there 
Was  no  real  man  left — nothing  truly  manly. 

Now,  what  would  have  to  be  done,  in  order  to  restore 
to  man  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ?  What,  but  to 
re-animate  the  mental  earth  with  new  affections,  set 
the  lights  of  truth  again  in  the  heavens,  to  give  light 
upon  the  earth  ;  call  back  the  fled  birds,  or  heavenly 
thoughts,  and  thus  give  to  the  mind  its  true  form  and 
comeliness  ?  And  all  this  the  Lord  did  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Christian  church.  He  created  man 


138  HEAVENS   AND    EARTH, 

again  in  His  own  image  and  likeness. — Or  He  created 

o      '  c? 

a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  or  His  church  in  man, 
and  illuminated  it.  And  He  says  to  it,  prophetically, 
"  Arise,  shine  ;  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of 
the  LORD  is  risen  upon  .thee  ;  and  the  Gentiles  shall 
come  to  thy  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  thy 
rising."  Isa.  Ix.  1,  3. 

Thus  the  Lord  is  the  light  of  the  mind  or  of  the 
church.  The  sun  denotes  the  Lord  as  to  love  and  wis- 
dom ;  the  moon  denotes  truth  or  faith  ;  and  the  stars, 
truths  or  knowledges.  They  are  never  mentioned  in 
the  Word  without  having  this  signification. 

The  sun  is  the  most  striking  symbol  of  the  Lord  in 
all  nature.  By  its  heat  and  light  it  performs  the  same 
use  to  the  natural  earth  which  the  Lord,  by  His  love 
and  wisdom,  does  to  the  mental  earth  or  human  mind. 
And  the  analogy  is  perfect,  and  is  everywhere  main- 
tained throughout  the  Holy  Word.  And  as  the  sun 
represents  the  Lord  in  the  Word,  so  the  earth  and  sky 
represent  the  human  mind.  And  as  the  natural  earth 
without  the  sun,  with  its  heat  and  light,  is  cold  and 
dark,  so  a  human  mind  without  the  Lord,  with  His 
love  and  wisdom,  is  cold  and  dark.  And  as  clouds  in 
the  atmosphere  darken  the  earth,  by  shutting  out  the 
light  of  the  sun,  so  clouds  of  ignorance  and  error,  in 
the  understanding,  darken  the  mind  and  shut  out  the 
light  and  truth  coming  from  the  Lord,  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness.  And  as,  after  a  season  of  clouds  and 
storms  and  darkness,  the  light  of  the  sun  makes  its  ap- 
pearance through  the  clouds  of  the  natural  heavens, 
illuminating  and  rejoicing  the  earth  j  so  the  Lord;  as 


SUN,    MOON    AND    STARS.  139 

the  Light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  after  an  age  of 
error  and  warfare  and  darkness  with  the  children  of 
men,  conies  in  the  clouds  of  the  human  mind  or  mental 
heavens,  to  enlighten  and  rejoice  the  souls  of  men  and 
establish  His  kingdoni  again  among  them. 

And  as  the  sun  is  used  in  the  Word,  as  a  symbol  of 
the  Lord  as  to  the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  so  the 
moon  is  used  as  a  symbol  of  man's  faith.  For  as  the 
moon  is  a  dark,  opaque  body,  receiving  all  its  light  from 
the  sun,  so  the  human  mind  is  a  dark  body  receiving 
all  its  light  of  truth  or  its  true  faith,  from  the  Lord, 
the  Sun  of  Eighteousness.  We  have  no  real  faith  but 
as  the  Lord  gives  it  to  us  by  the  Light  of  His  Truth  : 
and  so  the  moon  has  no  light  but  as  the  sun  gives  it 
from  the  glory  of  its  beams.  And  as  the  human  mind 
shines  by  the  truths  of  faith  from  the  Lord,  so  the 
moon  shines  by  light  borrowed  from  the  sun.  The 
moon  is  therefore  used  in  the  Woid  as  a  true  symbol 
of  faith. 

And  the  stars  are  most  beautiful  symbols  of  truths 
or  knowledges  in  the  mind.  Being  bright  objects  in 
the  natural  firmament,  they  denote  true  principles  in 
the  understanding  or  mental  firmament.  What  a 
beautiful  mental  constellation  are  ihe  ten  command- 
ments when  bright  and  clear  in  the  firmament  of  the 
mind  !  Like  beacon  lights  to  the  natural  mariner,  they 
stand  in  our  mental  heavens  as  fixed  stars,  upon  which 
we  may  ever  depend  lo  mark  our  moral  and  religious 
latitude  and  longitude  in  the  ocean  of  life,  as  we  strive, 
in  dependence  upon  the  Lord,  to  guide  our  frail  bark 
of  humanity  on  its  onward-bound  voyage  to  the  haven 


140  HEAVENS    AND    EABTH, 

of  peace— our  eternal  home.  Stars  are  therefore  always 
used  in  the  Word  as  symbols  of  truths  or  of  knowledges 
in  the  human  mind  :  and  with  this  signification  the 
Word  is  made  plain  where  stars  are  used. 

Stars  are  therefore  said  to  ftill  from  heaven  or  to 
withdraw  their  shining,  whenever  man  loses  his  knowl- 
edges of  the  truths  of  the  Word.  Therefore,  in  the 
prophecy  in  Joel  of  the  end  of  the  church,  the  Lord 
says,  "The  earth  shall  quake  ;  the  heavens  shall  trem- 
ble :  the  sun  and  the  moon  shall  be  dark,  and  the  stars 
shall  withdraw  their  shining  :  the  sun  shall  be  turned 
into  darkness,  ajid  the  moon  into  blood."  (ii.  10,  31.) 
This  is  a  prophetic  description  of  the  dark  and  troubled 
state  of  the  human  mind  when  its  sun  of  Kighteous- 
ness,  its  moon  of  faith,  and  its  stars  of  spiritual  knowl- 
edge, cease  to  shine. 

And  how  graphic  is  this  description  when  the  anal- 
ogy is  seen  !  No  human  language  can  compare  with 
it,  either  for  fulness,  definiteness,  or  force.  What  a 
pitiable  state  of  man,  or  of  the  mental  earth,  is  shown 
by  the  following  language  through  Isaiah  !  "  The 
earth  mourneth  and  fadeth  away.  The  earth  is  de- 
filed. The  foundations  of  the  earth  do  shake.  The 
earth  is  utterly  broken  down.  The  earth  is  clean  dis- 
solved. The  earth  is  moved  exceedingly.  The  earth 
shall  reel  to  and  fro  like  a  drunkard."  (xxiv.  4,  5,  18, 
19,  20.)  If  the  earth  here  means  the  church,  or  a  dark 
and  troubled  state  of  mind,. all  is  rational.  But  if  it 
does  not  mean  the  mind,  what  does  it  mean  ? 

If  the  Lord  created  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth 
at  His  first  coming,  as  the  Holy  Word  declares,  and 


SUN,    MOON    AND    STARS.  141 

that  heavens  and  earth  do  not  mean  the  church,  or  a 
good  state  of  the  human  mind,  what  do  they  mean  ? 
As  these  things  did  not  happen  to  the  sun,  moon  and 
stars,  at  the  Lord's  coming,  when  the  prophecy  was 
fulfilled,  they  must  signify  something  else.  And  we 
have  positive  testimony  in  the  Scriptures,  in  plain  and 
unmistakable  language,  that  they  do  mean  something 
else,  and  also,  what  they  mean. 

On  the  day  of  pentecost,  when  the  people  were  all 
amazed,  and  marvelled,  saying  one  to  another,  "  Are 
not  all  these  who  speak  Galileans  ?  and  how  hear  we 
every  man  in  our  own  tongue,  wherein  we  were  born  ? 
Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwellers 
in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  Judea,  and  Cappadocia,  in 
Pontus,  and  Asia,  Phrygia,  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt, 
and  in  the  parts  of  Lybia  about  Gyrene,  and  strangers  of 
Eome,  Jews  and  proselytes,  Cretes  and  Arabians,  we 
do  hear  them  speak  in  our  tongues  the  wonderful  works 
of  God.  But  Peter,  standing  up  with  the  eleven, 
lifted  up  his  voice,  and  said  unto  them,  Ye  men  of  Ju- 
dea, and  all  ye  that  dwell  at  Jerusalem,  be  this  known 
unto  you,  and  hearken  to  my  words  :  This  is  that 
which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel  ;  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  saith  God,  I  will  pour 
out  of  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh  :  and  your  sons  and  your 
daughters  shall  prophesy,  and  your  young  men  shall  see 
visions,  and  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams  :  and  on 
my  servants  and  on  niy  handmaidens  I  will  pour  out,  in 
those  days,  of  my  spirit,  and  they  shall  prophesy  :  and 
I  will  show  wonders  in  heaven  above,  and  signs  in  the 
earth  beneath  ;  blood,  and  fire,  and  vapor  of  smoke  : 


142  HEAVENS    AND    EARTH, 

The  sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon 
into  blood,  before  that  great  and  notable  day  of  the 
Lord  come  :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  whoever 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved." 
(Acts  ii.  7-21.)  Hare  Peter  quotes  the  very  words 
of  Joel,  who  declares  that,  before  the  things  mentioned 
as  occurring  on  the  day  of  pentecost  should  take  place, 
the  sun  should  be  turned  into  darkness  and  the  moon 
into  blood  :  thus  showing  clearly  that  before  the  Chris- 
tian church  should  be  established,  there  would  be  no 
true  light  of  faith  in  the  human  mind  on  earth.  For  by 
the  sun's  being  turned  into  darkness,  is  meant  the  loss 
of  all  true  knowledge  and  love  of  the  Lord,  the  Sun  of 
Eighteousness.  And  by  the  moon's  being  turned  into 
blood  is  meant,  violence  done  to  faith. 

There  can  be  no  question  of  the  meaning  of  these 
prophecies  left  in  the  mind  of  any  one  who  will  can- 
didly examine  them  in  that  light  of  analogy  in  which 
they  are  written. 

The  same  symbolic  language  is  used,  in  the  prophetic 
portions  of  the  New  Testament,  to  express  another 
dark,  divided  and  distracted  state  of  the  religious  world 
on  the  earth,  and  of  the  establishment  of  the  New  Je- 
rusalem. And  it  is  used  in  too  plain  a  manner  to  be 
mistaken  by  any  unprejudiced  and  humble  seeker  after 
truth,  who  will  examine  the  science  of  correspond- 
ences :  For  the  prophet  John  says,  in  the  Apocalypse, 
"  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  for  the 
first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away  ;  and 
I  John  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride 


SUN,    MOON   AND    STARS.  143 

adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice 
out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is 
with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall 
be  His  people,  and  God  Himself  shall  be  with  them, 
their  God."  (Rev.  xxi.  1,  2,  3.) 

Now,  in  taking  a  candid  and  rational  view  of  the 
whole  Word  on  this  subject,  we  ask  the  serious  mind 
if  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  mentioned  in  this 
prophecy  of  St.  John  can,  consistently  with  the  rest  of 
the  divine  Word,  be  possibly  construed  to  mean  any- 
thing else  than  a  new  church,  or  a  new  state  of  religious 
life  ?  As  it  is  beyond  dispute  certain  that  the  Lord 
came  the  first  time  to  supercede  the  Jewish  church  by 
a  higher  order  of  faith  and  life,  and  that  He  established 
it  by  a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  in  the  minds  of 
His  disciples  :  why  then,  we  ask,  is  it  not  a  still  high- 
er order  of  faith  and  life  that  the  Lord  comes  to  estab- 
lish by  the  creation  of  another  new  heavens  and  new 
earth  in  advance  of  those  created  at  His  first  coming, 
and  wherein  all  shall  see  eye  to  eye  ?  Can  any  one 
doubt  from  the  tenor  of  the  whole  quotation  from  St. 
John,  that  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth,  which  he 
saw,  mean  a  new  church  ?  The  question  then  is  plainly 
settled,  from  the  Holy  Word,  that  the  phrase  "  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  "  means  the  church,  or  the  hu- 
man mind  in  order. 

Now,  the  whole  2  4th  chapter  of  Matthew  is  a  proph- 
ecy of  the  divisions,  disorders  and  troubles  which  would 
arise  in  the  Christian  world,  and  of  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  for  the  establishment  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
And  in  that  portion  from  which  our  text  is  taken  the 


144  HEAVENS   AND    EARTH, 

Lord  says,  "  Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those 
days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall 
not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven, 
and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken  :  and 
then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heav- 
en :  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn  ; 
and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory/'  All  these 
wonderful  things  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  were  to 
take  place  before  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  and  the  descent  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Now,  as  the  things  prophesied  of  the  sun,  moon  and 
stars  did  not  take  place  in  outward  nature  at  the  Lord's 
first  coming,  as  prophesied  in  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and 
Joel,  we  therefore  are  not  to  look  for  anything  of  the 
kind  at  his  second  coming  ;  for  it  is  declared,  in  both 
instances,  that  the  same  things  would  take  place. 

How  can  the  natural  stars — vast  suns  to  other  sys- 
tems— fall  to  this  little  earth  ?  But  if  the  stars  mean 
knowledges  of  truth,  they  might  fall  from  the  mental 
heavens.  The  understanding  might  become  so  dark- 
ened by  sin  as  not  to  see  nor  regard  the  truths  of  the 
Word  at  all.  I  know  it  is  believed  by  many  pious 
Christians,  that  this  prophecy,  in  Matthew,  is  to  be 
literally  fulfilled  in  that  the  Lord  will  personally  come, 
in  the  natural  clouds  which  float  in  our  atmosphere. 
But  where  would  the  clouds  be  after  the  stars  had  fall- 
en ?  For  He  is  not  to  appear  until  after  the  stars 
have  fallen,  and  the  sun  has  been  darkened.  And  how 
is  the  Son  of  man  to  be  seen  in  those  clouds  without 
any  light  ?  Besides,  if  the  stars  should  fall  to  the 


SUN,    MOON   AND    STABS.  145 

earth,  we  should  have  all  the  material  bodies  of  the 
vast  universe  collected  in  one  mass  and  this  little  earth 
in  the  very  centre. 

But  the  doctrine  of  the  falling  of  the  stars  is  now 
generally  given  up,  among  civilized  people.  It  was 
once  supposed  to  he  true  :  but  since  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy has  revealed  some  of  the  laws  which  govern 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  something  of  their  distances 
and  magnitudes,  thinking  people  no  longer  believe  that 
the  stars  will  fall.  But  in  giving  up  the  falling  of  the 
stars,  many  give  up  the  Bible  also,  disbelieving  it  to  be 
divine  wisdom  ;  for  they  think  it  plainly  teaches  that 
the  stars  do  fall.  And  many  good  people  of  the  vari- 
ous Christian  denominations,  who  still  adhere  to  the 
divinity  of  the  Word,  and  acknowledge  the  falling  of 
the  stars  to  be  figurative  language,  continue  to  believe 
that  the  Lord  will  make  His  second  coming  in  a  per- 
sonal form,  in  the  visible  clouds.  But,  upon  what 
grounds  of  Scripture  interpretation  can  any  one  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  that  entire  quotation  from 
Matthew,  all  in  one  sentence,  should  be  figurative  lan- 
guage, except  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the  clouds, 
and  that  that  part  should  be  literal,  as  it  reads  ? 

But  all  will  be  plain  when  men  see  that  the  clouds 
are  the  dark  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  when  not  un- 
derstood ;  and  that  the  Lord,  who  is  the  Word  itself 
in  its  spirit  and  life,  will  make  His  coming,  as  the  spir- 
itual light  of  the  Word,  in  those  clouds,  by  means  of 
the  science  of  correspondences.  Who  does  not  see 
that,  without  that  science,  the  letter  of  our  text  is  a 
dark  cloud  in  the  mind  ?  But  by  the  use  of  that  sci- 

7 


146  HEAVENS    AND    EARTH, 

ence  the  Lord,  as  heavenly  light,  comes  in  this  cloud 
with  power  and  great  glory. 

The  passage  in  Mark,  which  treats  of  the  second 
coming  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  state  of  the  Christian 
world/ reads  thus,  "  But  in  those  days,  after  the  trib- 
ulation, the  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall 
not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  of  heaven  shall  fall." 
By  "  the  tribulation  of  those  days  "  is  meant,  what  we 
now  see  in  the  Christian  world,  as  divisions  and  subdi- 
visions, and  contentions  of  sects  and  parties  and  creeds, 
called,  in  the  prophetic  teachings  of  the  24th  chapter 
of  Matthew,  "  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  and  famines, 
and  pestilences,  and  earthquakes  ;"  and  cryings,  "Lo, 
here  is  Christ,  or  there."  But  in  Isaiah  (Ix.  18,  20), 
where  the  coming  of  the  New  Jerusalem  is  predicted, 
our  Lord  says,  "  Violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  in 
thy  land,  wasting  nor  destruction  within  thy  borders  ; 
but  thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  Salvation,  and  thy  gates 
Praise.  Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down  ;  neither  shall 
thy  moon  withdraw  itself :  for  the  LOUD  shall  be  thine 
everlasting  light,  and  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall 
be  ended."  Thus  showing,  that  the  New  Jerusalem  is 
to  be  the  crowning  and  final  church,  and  is  to  have  no 
end  :  that  its  sun  and  moon  will  always  shine  :  for, 
says  the  Word,  "  The  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it,  and 
the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof."  The  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness is  its  Sun. 

In  one  of  the  prophecies  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
through  St.  John,  it  says,  "  There  appeared  a  great 
wonder  in  heaven  ;  a  woman  clothed  with  the  Sun,  and 
the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown 


SUN;    MOON    AND    STABS.  147 

of  twelve  stars."  This  woman  denotes  the  crowning 
church.  She  is  to  come  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  hus- 
band. And  how  sumptuous  may  become  her  embellish- 
ments when  she  has,  by  analogy,  such  free  access  to 
the  divine  rubies,  and  pearls,  and  gems  of  the  Holy 
Word,  of  every  heavenly  variety  and  beauty  !  Now, 
with  the  signification  which  analogy  gives  to  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars,  this  prophecy  is  most  rational  and 
beautiful.  While, without  that  signification,  it  teaches 
us  nothing.  How  cheering  the  thought  that  the 
church  is  yet  to  be  clothed  with  light  as  with  a  gar- 
ment— a  light  shining  from  heavenly  love — so  that  her 
deportment  will  be  pure  mercy  and  intelligence  :  that 
her  understanding  is  to  be  filled  with  all  spiritual 
knowledges,  symbolized  by  a  crown  of  twelve  stars  : 
that  she  will  ever  stand  firm  upon  the  eternal  rock  of 
true  faith,  denoted  by  the  moon  under  her  feet,  as  a 
sure  lantern  to  her  paths  ! 

There  is  another  striking  prophecy  in  the  Apocalypse, 
concerning  the  disturbed  and  beclouded  condition  of 
the  Christian  world  preceding  the  descent  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  It  reads  thus  : — "  The  sun  became  black 
as  sackcloth  of  hair,  and  the  moon  became  as  blood  ; 
and  the  stars  of  heaven  fell  unto  the  earth,  even  as  a 
fig-tree  casteth  her  untimely  figs,  when  she  is  shaken 
of  a  mighty  wind  :  and  the  heaven  departed  as  a  scroll 
when  it  is  rolled  together."  (Rev.  vi.  12—14.)  Here 
again,  the  literal  sense  is  utterly  incomprehensible.  We 
cannot  conceive  of  stars  falling  from  heaven  as  blighted 
figs,  blown  off  by  the  wind.  But  we  can  conceive  of 
truths,  by  a  wicked  life,  becoming  apparently  blighted, 


148  HEAVENS    AND     EARTH,    ETC. 

withered  away,  and  lost  to  the  human  mind.  Nor  can 
we  conceive  of  the  moon's  becoming  blood.  But  we 
can  conceive  of  violence  done  to  a  true  faith,  until  it 
is  crimsoned  with  sins  of  every  dye. 

Now,  we  have  given  a  brief  explanation  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ;  the  sun,  moon  and 
stars,  from  the  very  commencement  of  the  Word  to  its 
close. — In  Genesis,  in  the  prophets,  in  the  gospels,  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as  taken  from  the  prophets,  and 
in  Kevelation.  The  literal  sense  alone  is  against  the 
reason  which  God  has  given  to  man,  and  consequently 
cannot  teach  him.  We  may  safely  say  this,  because  it 
has  not  been  able  to  teach  him.  It  has  baffled  the 
skill  of  the  most  learned  and  pious  commentators. 
They  have  all  differed  in  their  opinions  ;  and  have 
honestly  declared  themselves  ignorant  of  the  meaning 
intended  to  be  conveyed. 

But  by  the  divine  science  of  correspondences,  in 
which  the  Holy  Word  is  written,  we  have  a  rational 
and  beautiful  view  of  the  truths  therein  taught.  And 
what  is  most  important  is,  they  show  us  our  God  and 
teach  us  the  way  of  life  and  salvation  ;  the  very  things 
which  we  most  need  to  know,  and  which  the  good  God 
most  desires  to  teach  us.  "0  that  men  would  praise 
the  LORD  for  His  goodness,  and  for  His  wonderful 
works  to  the  children  of  men  ;  for  He  satisfieth  the 
longing  soul,  and  filleth  the  hungry  soul  with  good- 
ness." Ps.  cvii.  8,  9. 


CHAPTEE   IX. 

THE    FIRST     CHAPTER    OF     GENESIS    IN    ITS    SPIRITUAL 
IMPORT THE    CREATION    OF    MAN. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 
ness." (Gen.  i.  20.) 

IN  this  lecture  we  propose  to  treat  upon  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  in  its  spiritual  import — the  crea- 
tion of  man.  This  chapter  has  generally  been  looked 
upon  as  a  history  of  the  creation  of  the  material  uni- 
verse. For,  after  the  loss  of  the  science  of  corre- 
spondences, and  while  men  remained  ignorant  of  the 
lower  sciences,  and  particularly  of  Astronomy,  Geology, 
and  Chemistry,  they  were  in  much  mental  darkness  as 
to  the  physical  laws  as  well  as  the  spiritual.  And  in 
this  ignorance,  the  literal  sense  of  the  account  of  the 
creation,  was  adapted  to  their  gross  states  and  wants. 
It  was  good  for  them  to  read  it,  to  reverence  it,  and  to 
believe  it.  For  thereby  they  acknowledged  the  Lord, 
in  His  infinity,  as  the  creator  and  sustainer  of  the 
universe.  And  they  could  therein  regard  Him  as  their 
heavenly  Father.  This  instruction  was  just  what  they 
needed.  It  was  all  their  states  could  bear. 

But  men  were  not  always  to  remain  in  this  igno- 


150  FIKST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

ranee.  They  were  made  for  higher  light  and  life  than 
nature  gives.  But  before  they  could  advance  to  spir- 
itual knowledge,  they  must  lay  its  foundation  in 
nature.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  their  existence 
commenced  in  this  material  mode  of  life.  "  First  that 
which  is  natural,  and  afterward  that  which  is  spir- 
itual." 

And  as  men  investigated  nature  and  reasoned  upon 
her  laws,  the  natural  sciences  were  gradually  seen,  and 
their  principles  and  rules  noted,  and  laid  down.  And 
in  this  progress,  a  natural  philosophy  was  gradually 
evolved,  from  the  great  universal  laws  of  things.  And 
upon  the  truth  of  this  philosophy,  they  found  that  they 
could  implicitly  depend,  even  to  mathematical  cer- 
tainty. Therefore,  in  due  time,  they  raised  the  mighty 
telescope,  and  looked  in  among  the  rolling  worlds  ;  and 
learned  their  comparative  magnitudes,  distances  and 
revolutions  ;  an  event  far  more  astounding  in  that  day, 
than  the  steam  engine  and  electric  telegraph  are  in  this. 
For  the  delusion  was  then  broken.  The  earth  ceased 
to  be  the  great  centre,  the  main  body  of  the  universe  ; 
and  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  mere  torches  and  tapers 
passing  round  it  to  light  it.  Thus  men  saw  the  sizes 
of  our  sun  and  earth,  and  perceived  that  the  earth  was 
not  the  primary,  but  a  secondary  body,  and  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  sun  for  heat,  light,  germination 
and  growth  ;  and  was  daily  turning  to  that  sun  for 
blessings,  and  revolving  around  him  for  seasons.  And 
they  saw  in  these  things  fixed  and  eternal  laws. 

With  this  sure,  scientific  light  in  the  mind,  men  now 
look  at  the  narrative  of  the  creation,  and  they  marvel 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF   GENESIS.  151 

at  the  idea,  that  this  little  earth,  but  a  mere  atom  of 
dust  in  the  balance  against  the  rest,  and  even  cold  and 
opaque  in  its  nature,  should  have  been  the  first  thing 
created  in  the  whole  universe  :  and  that,  here  it  was 
for  a  long  time,  solitary  and  alone,  in  boundless  space, 
without  sun,  moon,  or  stars,  to  cheer  the  gloom  ;  and 
yet,  wonderful  to  tell,  bearing  trees  and  vegetables,  con- 
trary to  all  known  laws.  And  well  may  man  wonder 
that  the  enormous  sun,  the  great  centre  and  physical 
source  of  a  huge  system  of  worlds,  should  have  been 
the  last  heavenly  "body  made  ;  or  at  least,  not  made 
until  after  one  of  his  planets  had  been  three  immeasur- 
able days  in  existence  ;  and  bearing  trees  ;  days  which 
are  now  considered,  by  Biblical  scholars,  to  mean  in- 
definite periods  of  time  ;  probably  not  less  than  a  thou- 
sand yeais  each  ;  thus  leaving  the  earth  alone,  in  the 
gloom  of  its  solitude,  for  thousands  of  years. 

The  geologist,  also,  begins  to  doubt  and  demur,  as 
he  reads  this  history  of  the  creation.  For,  in  the  pro- 
cess of  the  earth's  formations,  he  beholds  the  animal 
kingdom  treading  upon  the  very  heels  of  the  vegetable, 
and  mingling  with  it,  at  every  step  of  its  progressive 
creation.  And  he  asks  how  it  is  possible,  that  all  the 
animals  and  fishes,  and  reptiles  and  insects,  were  created 
on  the  fifth  and  sixth  days,  and  all  the  vegetables  and 
trees  on  the  third,  when  geology  tells  so  very  different 
a  story  ?  For  she  says  the  first  vegetables  were  very 
small  mosses  upon  the  rocks,  produced  after  the  atmos- 
phere and  other  elements  had  prepared  the  surface  of 
the  granite  with  mould  enough  to  give  growth  to  minute 
vegetables.  And  in  these  little  vegetables,  before  the 


152  FIBST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

larger  growths  were  produced,  are  found,  minute  ani- 
mal organizations.  And,  as  we  turn  over  the  leaves  of 
the  stone  book,  we  see  a  regular  progression  of  larger 
vegetables  and  larger  animals,  from  the  smallest  up  to 
the  production  of  large  animals  and  trees.  This  must 
have  taken  a  long  time,  so  that  many  animals,  besides 
the  creeping  things,  must  have  been  formed  before  the 
earth  produced  large  trees. 

Thus  the  astronomer  and  geologist  are  giving  up  the 
divinity  of  the  Word.  They  say,  Which  shall  we  be- 
lieve, God's  word  or  His  works  ?  We  cannot  believe 
them  both,  and  retain  our  reason.  To  this  question, 
the  natural  philosopher — the  strong-minded  man,  an- 
swers, saying,  Take  His  works  :  believe  them  ;  they 
cannot  lie.  While  the  zealous  theologian,  blindly  de- 
voted to  the  letter  of  the  Word,  says,  Take  the  Bible, 
and  let  science  go  :  they  cannot  be  reconciled.  But  a 
third  voice  speaks,  saying,  Take  them  both  :  they  are 
God's  own  books,  and  they  tell  the  same  truths.  Bead 
them  together,  in  the  light  of  analogy  :  each  is  a  key 
to  the  other,  and  verifies  its  divinity  :  Bead,  I  beseech 
you,  and  every  doubt  will  flee  away.  The  strong- 
minded  philosopher  hears  this  third  voice  and  turns  to 
look.  And  as  the  light  of  correspondences  beams  into 
his  mind,  he  beholds  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Word  shin- 
ing through  the  symbolic  language  ;  and  he  yields  the 
palm,  saying,  Bot h  are  true.  The  astronomer  and  geol- 
ogist too,  turn  to  look  :  and  as  they  see  the  light  of 
correspondences  shining  through  nature's  page  in  the 
speech  of  the  written  Word,  they  exclaim,  Give  God 
the  glory  :  both  books  are  true.  And  even  the  zealous 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  153 

theologian,  at  last,  with  caution,  turns  to  look.  He 
reads,  and  ponders  upon  correspondences ;  looks,  and 
hesitates,  and  looks  again,  and  turns  the  page  back- 
ward and  forth  ;  hut  he  cannot  leave  it  till  he  finally 
cries  out,  Amen  :  thy  will  0  God  he  done  :  both  books 
are  true  :  Nature  and  Revelation  have  met  together  : 
Science  and  Theology  have  kissed  each  other. 

Let  us  then  look  at  the  sacred  history,  for  that  di- 
vine light,  that  we  too  may  see  its  harmony  and  beauty 
and  be  blessed  by  its  spirit.  And  in  doing  this,  let  us 
bear  in  mind,  that  it  is  the  soul  of  man,  that  God 
everywhere  speaks  about,  both  in  His  Word  and  in  His 
works :  that  the  soul — the  mind — is  the  man  ;  the 
body  is  its  mere  clothing  :  that  this  history  of  the  cre- 
ation has  nothing  to  do  with  the  formation  of  man's 
natural  body,  nor  the  creation  of  the  natural  universe. 
God  had,  previous  to  this  history,  brought  mankind 
into  existence,  in  numbers  we  know  not  how  many. 
They  were  not  yet  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ; 
because  they  knew  nothing  of  His  love  and  wisdom. 
They  were  simple,  ignorant,  harmless  children  of  Na- 
ture ;  with  no  knowledge  of  soul,  mind,  God  or  heaven  : 
distinguished  from  the  brutes  only  by  a  capacity  to  be- 
come spiritual.  And  in  this  ignorance  they  would  have 
remained  if  their  heavenly  Father  had  not  taught  them 
spiritual  things.  The  Bible,  therefore,  commences  with 
an  account  of  the  process  of  the  elevation  of  these  hu- 
man souls  from  natural  to  spiritual,  and  of  thus  making 
them  real  men,  by  giving  them  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God — the  Infinite  Man.  And  the  narrative  is  per- 
fectly applicable  now  to  every  person  who  knows  not 

7* 


154  FIKST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

spiritual  things,  but  applies  to  the  Holy  Word  for  light 
and  becomes  regenerated. 

The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  complete  illustration 
of  the  spiritual  creation  or  regeneration  of  man.  It 
describes,  fully  and  clearly,  the  order  and  progress  of 
the  regenerate  life  ;  or  of  the  creation  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  or  the  church  in  man.  And  because  all  things 
in  the  macrocosm  or  material  universe  correspond  to 
principles  in  the  microcosm  or  mind  of  man,  they  are, 
in  the  wisdom  of  Jehovah,  brought  up,  in  this  chap- 
ter, in  such  order  as  to  teach  most  distinctly  and  pre- 
cisely, how  man  may  be  born  again,  or  raised  from  nat- 
ural to  spiritual,  and  thus  become  a  new  creature  in 
Jesus  Christ.  The  six  days  of  labor  or  creation,  sig- 
nify the  several  distinct  states  of  mind  through  which 
we  progressively  pais  from  natural  to  spiritual.  The 
seventh  day  denotes  the  spiritual  rest  we  enjoy,  when 
the  victory  over  the  evils  of  our  nature  is  wonv— 
when  the  work  is  all  accomplished — the  race  triumph- 
antly run,  and  the  warfare  ended.  It  is  the  Lord  that 
is  said  to  rest  :  and  so  it  is,  for  it  is  He  that  conquers  ; 
it  is  He  that  "  worketh  in  us  to  will  and  to  do." 

The  internal  sense  of  the  Word,  of  which  we  shall 
speak,  contains  infinitely  more  than  we  shall  attempt 
to  explain  ;  it  being  the  speech  of  the  Lord,  and  con- 
taining an  infinity  of  principles  and  relations.  Yet,  in 
a  partial  and  modified -sense — a  sense  in  which  it  is  at 
first  most  receivable  by  the  understanding,  it  will  sig- 
nify those  principles  of  the  mind  and  that  spiritual 
creation  of  man  which  we  shall  attribute  to  it.  And  as 
we  are  lecturing  expressly  for  novitiate  minds  as  to 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  155 

the  law  of  analogy,  we  shall  introduce,  for  explanation, 
these  correspondences  which  can  be  most  readily  seen 
and  acknowledged. 

By  the  creation  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  in  the 
first  verse,  is  meant  the  regeneration  of  the  internal 
and  external  minds,  or  the  establishment  of  the  church 
in  the  soul.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you," 
says  the  Lord.  By  the  earth  is  meant  the  external 
mind  or  the  natural  and  earthly  man  ;  and  by  the 
heavens  the  internal  mind,  or  the  spiritual  and  heav- 
enly man.  And  as  the  internals  of  things  are  always 
contained  within  the  externals,  therefore,  when  the 
word  "  earth"  is  used  alone,  in  the  Word,  it  means  the 
church  or  the  whole  mind,  either  in  order  or  in  dis- 
order, according  to  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used. 

By  the  earth  being  "  without  form,  and  void,"  as 
mentioned  in  the  second  verse,  is  meant,  that  the  mind 
of  man,  at  the  first  beginnings  of  its  spiritual  creation, 
is  without  spiritual  truth  or  goodness.  Truth  is  the 
form  of  goodness.  To  be  without  form  is  to  have  no 
truth  :  and  to  be  void  is  to  have  no  goodness  of  man's 
own.  This  is  the  state  of  every  unregenerate  person. 
The  '''face  of  the  deep"  is  the  dark  abyss  of  the 
obscure  and  confused  state  of  the  mind,  without 
spiritual  goodness  and  truth.  The  "  face  of  the 
waters,"  upon  which  the  Spirit  of  God  moved,  are 
certain  hidden  principles  or  germs  in  man,  treas- 
ured there  by  the  Lord,  called  in  the  "Word  u  re- 
mains," upon  which  the  Spirit  of  God  first  moves 
to  bring  a  person  to  some  faint  knowledge  of  goodness 
and  truth  It  is  the  implanted  conscience  ground 
which  a  child  gets  through  its  good  instructions. 


156  FIRST   CHAPTEE   OF   GENESIS. 

"  Let  there  be  light  and  there  was  light"  means,  that 
man  began  to  see  that  goodness  and  truth  are  from  the 
Lord.  The  light  was  called  "  good/'  because  it  was 
good  to  man  to  have  it.  To  divide  the  light  from  the 
darkness,  was  for  man  to  distinguish  between  the 
things  which  were  from  God  and  those  that  wer-e  from 
man's  wisdom.  For  all  truth  is  from  the  Lord.  God 
called  the  light  day,  because  it  was  from  himself,  giv- 
ing man  a  new  state  of  mind.  He  called  the  darkness 
night,  because  it  was  man's  dark  state  in  the  absence 
of  light.  The  evening  and  the  morning  are  called  the 
first  day,  because  the  evening  means  the  state  of  shade 
in  the  mind,  which  precedes  the  reception  of  some  truth  ; 
and  tha  morning  the  state  of  light  which  follows.  This 
is  what  is  meant  throughout  the  whole  chapter  by 
"  evening  and  morning." 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the 
midst  of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from 
the  waters.  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided 
the  waters  which  were  under  the  firmament  from  the 
waters  which  were  above  the  firmament."  How  totally 
dark  is  this  passage  in  the  literal  sense  !  The  natural 
firmament  is  the  sky —  the  whole  immense  space  in 
which  the  stars  are  placed.  Where  would  the  waters 
be  which  were  above  or  below  this  firmament  ?  No 
human  mind  can  imagine  what  such  language  means, 
without  the  spiritual  sense.  But  if  the  waters  mean 
truths,  and  the  firmament  the  rational  plane  of  the  ex- 
ternal mind — the  heaven  of  1he  natural  man — then  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  waters  above  the  firmament  are 
truths  in  the  natural  will,  which  is  above  the  rational  ; 
waters  below  the  firmament  are  truths  in  the  natural 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  157 

understanding  below  the  rational.  And  for  the  Lord 
to  divide  the  waters  which  were  above  the  firmament 
from  the  waters  which  were  under  the  firmament  would 
be,  to  enable  man  to  distinguish  between  the  truths 
which  he  loved  and  those  which  he  only  saw  ;  or  be- 
tween truths  in  the  will  and  those  only  in  the  under- 
standing. God  called  the  firmament  heaven,  because  it 
was  the  rational  sphere  of  the  kingdom  which  He  was 
establishing  in  man.  This  is  the  second  day  or  a  new 
state  of  the  mind. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be 
gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land 
appear.  And  God  called  the  dry  land  earth  ;  and  the 
gathering  together  of  the  waters  called  He  seas."  By 
the  gathering  together  of  the  waters  under  the  heav- 
ens, is  meant  the  storing  up,  in  the  memory  of  the  ex- 
ternal man,  all  the  knowledge  received  from  the  Lord 
during  regeneration.  The  memory  is  the  great  reser- 
voir of  knowledges.  Knowledges  denote  truths  signi- 
fied by  waters.  And  all  that  we  know  is  our  sea  of 
knowledge.  The  dry  land  is  the  good  ground  of  the 
external  mind — the  basis  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven — 
and  is  called  the  earth  of  the  mind.  By  the  Lord's 
saying,  "  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  his 
kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,"  is  meant  the  mental  earth, 
or  church  in  the  mind,  giving  germination  and  growth 
to  the  various  seeds  of  truth  which  have  been  sown  in 
the  dry  land,  through  the  Holy  Word.  This  is  the 
third  day,  or  a  more  advanced  state  of  mind  when  the 
fruits  of  righteousness  are  produced  in  the  external 
mind  by  simple  obedience. 


158  FIKST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firma- 
ment of  heaven,  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and 
let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days  and 
years  :  and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  firmament  of 
the  heaven,  to  give  light  upon  the  earth.  And  God 
made  two  great  lights  ;  the  greater  light  to  rule  the 
day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night  :  He  made 
the  stars  also.  And  God  set  them  in  the  firmament 
of  the  heaven,  to  give  light  upon  the  earth."  Lights 
in  the  firmament  of  heaven  are  truths  in  the  internal 
mind — the  heaven  of  the  soul.  The  sun  in  the  heaven 
of  the  soul,  from  its  heat,  is  pure  love  ;  it  is  love  to 
God  and  man.  This  is  the  heavenly  Sun  which  ever 
speaks  or  gives  off  the  light  of  truth.  God  is  love — 
the  Sun  of  righteousness.  The  Wisdom  which  He 
speaks  is  THE  TRUTH— the  Light  of  the  world. 
The  moon  in  the  mind  denotes  faith,  or  the  truth  of 
faith.  The  moon  is  an  opaque  body  ;  without  the 
light  of  the  sun  it  is  dark.  Man's  mind  is  opaque  : 
without  truth  from  God  or  from  love,  it  is  dark.  The 
moon  shines  only  by  the  light  of  the  sun.  Man's  mind 
shines  only  by  the  truth  of  the  Lord.  The  moon,  then, 
is  a  beautiful  symbol  of  faith.  The  stars  signify  fixed 
principles  of  truth,  or  true  knowledges  in  the  mind. 
To  Set  them  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  is  to  fix  them 
in  the  internal  mind.  The  lights  are  set  there  by 
means  of  love  to  God  and  faith  in  Him  arid  His  Word. 
Love  to  God  sets  the  Sun  in  our  heaven.  True  faith 
in  Him  puts  the  moon  there.  And  the  leading  truths 
of  the  commandments,  when  loved,  become  bright  and 
fixed  principles  or  stars  in  our  mental  firmament.  For 


FIRST    CHAPTEK    OF    GENESIS.  159 

these  luminous  bodies  to  give  light  upon  our  earth,  is 
for  them  to  illumine  and  guide  our  external  man.  The 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  means  that  the  light  of 
love  should  govern  our  affections,  in  every  state  of 
goodness.  The  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night,  means 
that  the  truth  of  faith  may  sustain  and  direct  us,  in 
the  shady  states  of  temptation  ;  having  the  stars  or 
knowledges  of  truth,  in  the  mean  time,  as  fixed  prin- 
ciples in  our  mental  heavens.  This  is  the  fourth  day, 
or  a  new  state  of  mind,  when  we  are  in  love  of  the 
truths,  and  can  -walk  by  their  light  from  within. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abun- 
dantly the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl 
that  may  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  of 
heaven.  And  God  created  great  whales,  and  every 
living  creature  that  moveth,  which  the  waters  brought 
forth  abundantly,  after  their  kind  :  and  God  saw  that 
it  was  good."  After  love  and  faith  and  knowledges  of 
the  truths  are  thus,  by  the  mercy  and  power  of  the 
Lord,  established  in  the  soul,  and  are  in  active  oper- 
ation, warming  the  heart  into  life,  from  a  clear  view 
of  right  and  wrong,  the  regenerating  person  begins  truly 
to  live.  And  now  commences  the  creation  of  principles, 
within  him,  which  have  true  intellectual  life.  They 
are  signified  by  the  creepings  things  and  winged, fowl 
and  fishes  which  the  waters  brought  forth  abundantly. 
Creeping  things  denote  all  the  lower  natural  principles 
of  the  mind;  birds,  the  thoughts;  fishes,  things  scientific. 
All  these  belong  to  the  intellectual  region  of  the  mind 
where  truth  now  reigns.  Water  is  said  to  bring  them 
forth,  because  truth  cleanses,  directs,  governs  and  fills 


1GO  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

them  with  life  from  heaven.  All  our  thoughts  have 
new  life  :  all  our  creeping  inclinations  are  led  by  the 
truth  to  good  ;  and  even  our  fishes,  or  scientific  princi- 
ples, are  regulated  by  God's  Word,  and  become  living 
things  of  the  mind.  By  God's  blessing  them,  and  say- 
ing, "  Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  fill  the  waters  in 
the  seas  ;  and  let  fowl  multiply  in  the  earth/'  we  are 
taught  that  everything  in  the  intellectual  region  of  the 
mind,  which  has  life  from  the  Lord,  is  ever  fruitful, 
multiplying  abundantly.  This  is  the  fifth  day,  or  a 
new  state  of  mind,  when  the  truth  comes  down  from 
our  mental  heaven  warm  with  life  from  love  to  the 
Lord,  filling  all  the  things  of  the  understanding  with 
living  emotions. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living 
creature  after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creeping  thing,  and 
beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind.'  By  the  earth's 
bringing  forth  the  living  creature,  cattle,  beast,  and 
creeping  thing,  is  meant,  that  the  external  mind  is  now 
being  animated  with  heavenly  affections.  For  animals 
and  beasts  denote  the  affections.  And  living  creatures 
denote  good  affections  ;  such  as  love  God  and  the 
neighbor.  And  this  is  a  glorious  state  in  the  progress 
of  regeneration,  when  our  soul  is  filled  with  love  and 
faith  and  knowledges  of  the  truth,  and  is  bringing 
forth  every  living  creature — beast,  bird,  fish,  insect — in 
true  order  ;  when  the  whole  soul,  from  internals  to  ex- 
ternals, is  truly  alive  ;  when  every  principle  of  the 
whole  man  is  fruitful  and  multiplying  with  new  goods 
and  truths,  and  producing  everything  in  the  Microcosm, 
or  human  mind,  which  the  Macrocosm  and  natural 
world  would  produce,  if  all  were  right. 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  161 

"  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image, 
after  our  likeness  :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over, 
tlie  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every 
creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth."  Here 
we  are  taught  that  though  God  has  been,  all  the  while, 
creating  man,  yet,  that  he  is  not  really  Man,  till  he  has 
God's  image  and  likeness  :  and  that  he  does  not  fully 
receive  and  enjoy  these  qualities,  till  he  has  dominion 
over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  fowl  of  the  air,  the  earth,  and 
creeping  things.  This  makes  him  Man  because  it  gives 
him  freedom.  The  person  who  cannot  govern  himself 
is  not  free,  and  therefore  is  not  worthy  the  name  of 
Man.  And  as  fish  denotes  scientifics,  and  sea,  knowl- 
edges ;  so,  to  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  is 
to  have  such  clear  and  rational  views,  from  spiritual 
light,  of  the  scientific  principles  of  our  general  knowl- 
edge, as  to  keep  them  from  falsifying  our  reasonings, 
and  biasing  our  judgment,  and  thus  leading  us  into  de-r 
ceptive  views,  and  a  perverted  philosophy.  And  to 
have  dominion  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  is  so  to  govern 
all  our  thoughts,  by  the  divine  truth,  as  to  keep  them 
from  foggy  atmospheres,  and  wild  and  visionary  schemes 
of  salvation,  and  from  thus  running  into  delusive  dreams 
and  false  doctrines.  To  have  dominion  over  the  cattle, 
is  to  control  all  our  affections  by  the  divine  love,  that 
they  may  fall  into  no  states  of  unkindness,  covetous- 
ness  nor  cruelty  ;  but  may  ever  act  from  the  merciful 
spirit  of  Jesus.  To  have  dominion  over  the  creeping 
things  of  the  earth,  is  to  have  the  full  and  perfect  con- 
trol over  all  the  lower  appetites  and  desires  of  the  ex- 


162  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

ternal  man,  in  all  their  little  selfish,  wants  and  way- 
ward suggestions.  Thus,  as  men,  in  God's  image  and 
likeness,  we  are  to  have  dominion  over  our  entire  men- 
tal earth,  or  external  man  ;  having  every  thought,  feel- 
ing and  action  —  every  desire  and  emotion  of  the  will 
and  understanding — governed  hy  the  love  and  wisdom 
of  the  Lord  ;  freely  and  rationally  exercised,  as  though 
they  were  our  own  principles  and  powers.  This  is  what 
gives  us  true  rational  freedom,  and  makes  us  real  men, 
in  the  divine  image  and  likeness. 

"  So  God  created  Man  in  His  own  image,  in  the  image 
of  God  created  He  him  :  male  and  female  created  He 
them/'  Here  we  have  an  account  of  the  creation  of 
Man,  male  and  female.  Nothing  is  said  of  Adam  or 
Eve  ;  nor  of  any  individuals,  as  to  sex.  It  is  Man  or 
mankind — the  race — that  is  created.  "  Male  and  fe- 
male created  He  them.  And  God  blessed  them,  and 
said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replen- 
ish the  earth,  and  subdue  it :  and  have  dominion  over 
the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over 
every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth."  From 
this  we  see  that  the  work  of  the  creation  was  not  yet 
completed.  They  had  still  got  to  subdue  the  earth, 
and  gain  the  dominion  over  all  the  principles  of  their 
nature.  And  to  accomplish  this  they  must  be  fruitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  external  mind,  and 
subdue  it.  It  must  be  brought  under  the  entire  con- 
trol of  the  internal  mind.  To  effect  this,  they  must 
plant  the  new  truths  from  above  in  the  good  soil  of 
the  heart,  and  carefully  bring  forth  the  fruits,  in  the 
life  and  conversation.  They  must  increase  and  multi- 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  163 

ply  their  affections  and  thoughts,  for  God  and  their 
neighbors,  from  the  new  goods  and  truths  constantly 
given  them  :  thus  their  beasts  and  birds  must  bring 
forth  after  their  kind.  This  is  a  regular  and  pro- 
gressive work.  And  the  male  and  female  elements 
which  must  be  engaged  in  this  labor,  belong  to  every 
individual.  Thus  each  individual  can  bring  forth 
spiritual  things,  and  must  therefore  be  fruitful  and 
multiply  in  goods  and  truths,  in  himself,  or  herself. 
The  male  elements  of  the  mind  are  things  of  the  under- 
standing ;  the  female  elements  are  things  of  the  will. 
The  union  of  these  principles  is  spiritual  marriage.  It 
is  a  union  of  thoughts  and  feelings  ;  or  of  the  will  and 
the  understanding  :  or,  in  its  essence,  it  is  a  union  of 
good  in  the  will  with  truth  in  the  understanding.  By 
this  union,  the  mind  becomes  harmonious,  strong,  and 
productive.  The  understanding,  in  order,  gives  us 
God's  image  :  the  will,  in  order,  gives  us  His  likeness. 
But  no  one  can  have  either  this  image  or  this  likeness, 
unless  his  will  and  understanding  become  united.  This 
is  because  God's  will  and  understanding,  or  love  and 
wisdom,  are  never  separated,  but  are  one.  And  to  be 
like  Him  ours  must  also  be  one.  This  great  work, 
this  new  creation,  not  only  unites  the  will  and  the 
understanding,  but  also  the  internal  and  external 
minds,  or  the  heaven  and  the  earth  ;  thereby,  as  the 
work  progresses,  bringing  the  whole  mind  into  har- 
mony. 

"  And  God  said,  Behold  I  have  given  you  every  herb 
bearing  seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and 
every  tree,  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree  yielding 


164  FIRST    CHAPTEE    OF    GENESIS. 

seed ;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  meat."  Seeds  denote  truths. 
And  by  the  command  to  take  every  seed-bearing  herb 
and  tree  for  food  we  are  taught,  that  every  new  truth, 
produced  from  all  the  varieties  of  herbs  and  trees,  or 
from  all  the  heavenly  principles  that  grow  from  the 
good  soil  of  the  mental  earth,  must  be  loved  and  cher- 
ished in  the  soul.  This  is  the  way  to  be  fruitful,  and 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth.  None  of  the  seeds 
of  truth  which  we  bear  from  the  trees  and  herbs  of  our 
life  must  be  lost.  The  plants  must  be  eaten,  and  the 
seeds  sown.  The  way  to  sow  them  in  our  heart  is  to 
give  them  to  our  neighbor.  When  we  affectionately 
give  the  truth  to  our  neighbor,  for  his  salvation,,  it 
takes  root  in  our  own  soul. 

"  And  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to  every  fowl 
of  the  air,  and  to  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth,  wherein  there  is  life,  I  have  given  every  green 
herb  for  meat/'  This  teaches  us  that  we  should  bring 
all  our  good  thoughts,  affections  and  desires,  to  love, 
cherish  and  protect  every  tender  germ  and  young  plant 
of  virtue,  denoted  by  the  green  herb,  which  springs 
from  the  good  ground  of  the  soul :  for  this  also  is  the 
way  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply.  Everything  good 
which  the  heart  produces  is  of  God's  planting,  and 
should  be  tenderly  cherished.  To  love  a  thing  is  to 
use  it  for  food,  or  to  make  it  our  own. 

"  And  God  saw  every  thing  that  He  had  made,  and, 
behold,  it  was  very  good/'  All  things  were  of  course 
good,  because  God  made  them.  "And  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  sixth  day."  The  sixth  day 
is  that  auspicious  state  of  mind  when  all  the  thoughts 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  165 

feelings  and  actions — all  the  principles  of  the  whole 
mind  are  mutually  working  together  for  good  ;  and 
progressing  toward  that  seventh  day  or  sabbath  of 
rest,  when  the  heavens  and  the  earth  will  be  finished 
and  all  the  host  of  them. 


CHAPTEK  X. 

THE  FIRST  CHAPTER  OF  GENESIS  IN  ITS  PRACTICAL 
BEARING  UPON  THE  REGENERATION  OF  MAN  IN  ALL 
AGES. 

"  So  God  created  man  in  His  own  image  ;  in  the  image  of  God 
created  He  him :  male  and  female  created  He  them.  And  God 
blessed  them,  and  said,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish 
the  earth  and  subdue  it."  (Gen.  i.  27,  28.) 

MAN  is  an  immortal  soul.  Man  is  a  living  spirit. 
Man  is  an  everlasting  mind.  Man  is  not  matter.  He 
lives  here  for  a  brief  season  in  a  house  of  clay.  But 
that  house  is  not  the  man.  That  house  can  neither  see 
nor  hear,  think  nor  feel,  smell  nor  taste.  It  is  the  soul 
that  does  all  these  things  through  the  body.  The  body 
is  but  a  mere  instrument,  by  which  the  soul  op- 
erates upon  natural  things.  Take  the  soul  out  of  it, 
and  what  can  the  body  do  ? 

When  God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  lives, 
God  pronounced  him  a  living  soul,  not  a  material  body. 
Nor  did  God  breathe  that  breath  of  lives  into  a  body  of 
clay,  but  into  an  immortal  mind,  a  spiritual  body. 
The  soul  is  primary  ;  the  body  is  secondary.  The  life 
of  the  body  is  from  the  soul ;  the  life  of  the  soul  from 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF  GENESIS.  167 

God.  What  is  God's  breath,  but  the  spirit  of  truth, 
and  love  ?  And  what  is  the  Word  of  God  but  that 
very  breath  ?  God  speaks  it,  that  He  may  breathe 
that  spirit  into  you  and  me  ;  that  we  too  may  become 
living  souls.  For  if  we  receive  into  our  souls  the  breath 
of  truth  and  love  we  are  alive  unto  God.  But  if  not, 
we  are  dead  in  sin,  though  still  immortal.  The  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  before  us,  contains  that  holy,  living 
breath  of  God.  It  is  the  spirit  and  life  of  Jehovah. 
And  it  is  given  to  tell  you  and  me  how  God  makes  spir- 
itual and  living  things.  It  is  given  to  tell  us  how  He 
makes  the  spiritual  world  rather  than  the  natural :  how 
He  makes  the  souls  of  men,  not  their  natural  bodies  ; 
and  how  He  brings  those  souls  into  His  own  image  and 
likeness.  And  in  order  to  tell  us  how  the  souls  of  men 
are  made,  God  brings  up  before  our  natural  thought,  in 
His  own  divine  language  and  way,  an  apparent  history 
of  the  creation  of  natural  things,  in  order  that  the 
things  of  the  soul,  "  the  invisible  things  of  God  from 
the  creation  of  the  world  may  be  clearly  seen,  being  un- 
derstood by  the  things  that  are  made  ?" 

The  reason  God  brings  up  these  natural  things,  sim- 
ply to  tell  how  men's  souls  are  created,  is,  because  these 
natural  things  all  symbolize  principles  of  the  soul.  And 
the  history  is  so  composed  as  to  show,  by  correspond- 
ences, the  process  of  the  soul's  spiritual  creation  or  re- 
generation. These  natural  things  must  signify  spirit- 
ual things,  because  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  made  them. 
And  they  must  denote  principles  in  Him  that  made 
them,  and  still  fills  them  with  life,  and  gives  them  ac- 
tion. And  as  man  was  made  in  the  image  and  likeness 


168  FIRST    CHAPTER   OF    GENESIS. 

of  God,  so  the  things  of  nature  must  also  denote  ^prin- 
ciples in  man. 

And  now,  if  \ve  can  only  look  clearly  through  the 
symbol  to  the  real,  we  shall  receive  some  of  that  spir- 
itual instruction  and  food  for  our  souls,  for  which  this 
portion  of  the  Word  of  God  is  given.  For,  think  you, 
the  imperishable  God  speaks  the  words  of  eternal  life  to 
immortal  souls,  in  merely  telling  them  about  the  crea- 
tion of  the  perishable  things  of  time  ?  It  is  of  more 
importance  to  man  to  know  how  one  soul  is  created  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  than  how  millions  of 
material  worlds  are  made.  For  the  whole  universe  of 
matter  is  but  a  mere  shadow  or  reflex  of  the  immor- 
tal minds  of  men.  Seeing  then,  that  Man  is  the  world 
in  miniature  ;  and  that  the  universe  of  things  possesses 
his  qualities,  and  is  a  broad  symbol  of  his  mind,  we 
can  readily  see  that  the  creation  of  the  human  mind 
could  be  very  accurately  described  in  every  principle  and 
quality,  and  in  a  regular  and  successive  development, 
by  a  history  of  the  creation  of  natural  things  :  the  his- 
tory being  so  composed  as  clearly  to  set  forth,  by  the 
law  of  analogy,  the  creation  of  the  minds  of  men,  into 
the  divine  image. 

Now,  if  men  are  not  ready  to  believe  our  premises, 
let  them  look  at  the  matter.  Let  them  assume  the 
ground  that  this  history  of  the  creation  is  a  history  of 
the  creation  of  the  human  mind.  That  the  history  is 
given  by  God  to  man,  by  arranging  the  things  of  nature 
in  such  order,  in  the  history,  as  to  express,  by  corre- 
spondences, the  process  of  the  creation  of  the  human 
mind.  I  say,  Let  them  assume  this  ground,  and  then 


FIKST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  169 

look  at  the  history  as  given  solely  for  that  purpose  ; 
and  a  slight  glimpse  at  the  law  of  analogy  will  show 
them,  rationally,  that  everything  which  science  or  rea- 
son objects  to,  in  this  whole  history,  is  entirely  wiped 
away  ;  and  all  appears  reasonable  and  consistent.  All 
the  great  difficulties  are  now  removed  which  have  so 
much  troubled  and  perplexed  the  commentators,  re- 
specting the  six  days  of  creation  as  being  at  war  with 
geology  :  or  in  regard  to  the  sun's  being  made  on  the 
fourth  day,  as  opposed  to  astronomical  laws  ;  or  con- 
cerning the  garden  of  Eden  ;  the  trees  of  the  garden  ; 
the  serpent's  talking  :  the  forbidden  fruit ;  and  the 
fall,  over  which  there  hangs  so  much  dense  darkness  : 
or  respecting  the  creation  of  Eve  from  a  rib  of  Adam, 
after  the  seventh  day  ;  when  man  had  been  created, 
male  and  female,  on  the  sixth  day  :  or  concerning  the 
questions,  Who  was  Cam's  wife  ?  and  who  built  the 
city  of  Enoch  ?  All  these  strange  things,  and  many 
others,  will  be  rationally  explained,  and  the  whole  his- 
tory, in  a  spiritual  light,  will  become  profitable  for  doc- 
trine ;  teaching  the  way  of  life,  and  the  true  duty  of 
man  to  God  and  his  neighbor. 

But  some  people  say  they  take  God  at  his  word,  in 
the  literal  sense,  and  that  that  is  enough  for  them. 
Very  well,  obey  and  love  the  commandments  till  you 
hate  evil  and  love  good,  and  your  soul  is  safe. 

But  there  are  others  at  this  day  who  cannot  do  that. 
Their  intellect  demands  a  reason  for  belief.  The  Bi- 
ble, therefore,  must  speak  to  every  soul  for  itself.  It 
is  a  merciful  book  and  suits  itself  to  all  states.  I  can- 
not speak  to  you  intelligently,  upon  the  literal  sense, 

8 


170  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

alone,  of  this  history.  It  is  dark  to  me.  My  under- 
standing demands  what  the  letter  alone  fails  to  give. 
But  I  can  say  to  you,  understandingly,  that  there  is  a 
spiritual  sense  to  be  seen,  by  correspondences,  through 
the  literal,  which  is  a  history  of  the  creation  of  the 
human  mind,  and  is  reasonable,  beautiful  and  highly 
instructive  :  that  it  is  precisely  what  the  rational  fac- 
ulty, in  this  scientific  age  demands  :  that  in  the  early 
ages  of  our  race,  while  the  thoughts  of  man  flowed  along 
in  union  with  the  divine  current,  men  saw  it  by  intui- 
tion :  that  the  science  of  correspondences  was  once  well 
understood  on  this  earth,  but  has  long  since  been  lost ; 
but  that  many  great  and  good  minds  have,  to  some  ex- 
tent, believed  in  it  in  all  ages  ;  and  that  thousands  are 
now  embracing  it. 

Hermes,  the  great  Egyptian  legislator,  priest  and 
philosopher,  who,  by  his  excellence,  acquired  the  name 
of  the  Thrice  Great,  and  who  flourished  about  the 
time  of  Moses,  says,  "  This  visible  world  is  but  a  pic- 
ture of  the  invisible,  wherein  are  seen,  as  in  a  portrait- 
ure, counterfeit  forms  of  more  real  substances,  in  the 
invisible  fabric."  And  this  was  the  prevailing  belief 
of  the  learned  ancients.  They  believed  that  the  ma- 
terial world  was  a  picture  of  the  world  of  mind.  Philo, 
who  flourished  A.  D.  40,  and  who  lived  in  the  days  of 
the  Saviour,  says,  "  The  whole  law  of  Moses  is  like  a 
living  creature,  whose  body  is  the  literal  sense,  but 
whose  soul,  the  more  hidden  meaning,  is  covered  under 
the  sense  of  the  letter." 

Augustine,  one  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  church, 
Bays,  "  In  all  things  that  God  hath  spoken,  in  His  writ- 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  171 

ten  word,  \ve  must  seek  for  a  spiritual  meaning." 
Again  he*says,  "  As  barley  is  covered  with  a  stiff  chaff, 
so  that  you  come,  with  difficulty,  to  the  nourishing 
part,  so  the  Old  Testament  is  clothed  with  wrappings 
or  tokens  ;  but  if  you  once  come  to  its  marrow,  it 
nourishes  and  satisfies."  Origen,  another  of  the  early 
fathers  says,  "As  a  mutual  affinity  exists  between 
things  visible  and  things  invisible,  earth  and  heaven, 
soul  and  body  ;  so,  also,  Holy  Scripture  is  made  up  of 
visible  and  invisible  parts  :  first,  a  kind  of  body,  or 
letter,  which  we  see  with  the  eyes,  next  the  soul,  or 
sense  which  is  discovered  within  the  letter."  Again, 
Origen  says,  "They  who  find  fault  with  the  allegorical 
expositions  of  Scripture,  and  maintain  that  it  has  no 
other  meaning  than  that  which  the  texts  shows,  take 
away  the  key  of  knowledge." 

We  could  fill  a  volume  with  quotations  like  these 
from  the  fathers  and  early  Christians.  St.  Paul  says 
in  Galatians,  "  It  is  written  that  Abraham  had  two 
sons,  one  by  a  bond-maid,  and  the  other  by  a  free  wo- 
man, which  things  are  an  allegory  ?"  Now,  why  an 
allegory  ?  It  was  a  literal  fact.  And  you  may  read 
the  whole  history  of  Abraham  through,  and  you  will 
see  no  reason  why  this  was  an  allegory,  any  more  than 
all  the  rest  ;  nor  is  it. 

Many  of  the  deeply  pious,  in  all  ages,  have  supposed 
there  must  be  some  deep  signification  to  the  Scriptures, 
which  was  not  seen  in  the  literal  sense.  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke  says,  "  I  appeal  to  all  persons  who  have  ever 
read  the  various  comments  that  have  been  written  on 
the  Mosaic  account,  whether  they  have  ever  yet  been 


172  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

satisfied  ?  Who  was  the  serpent  ?  Of  what  kind  ? 
In  what  way  did  he  seduce  the  first  happy  pair  ?  These 
are  questions  which  remain  yet  to  be  answered."  Thus 
speaks  Dr.  Clarke. 

The  pious  Dr.  Watts  says,  "  Who  can  fathom  the 
depth  of  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  the  fall,  the  res- 
urrection, &c.  But  may  they  not  be  yet  understood  ? 
Who  can  say  but  that  the  dark  cloud  which  now  over- 
shadows this  Mosaic  history  may  some  day  be  removed  ? 
Who  knows  but  God  may  raise  up  some  man  to  ex- 
pound these  mysteries  ?"  And  Dr.  Watts  was  right 
in  his  suggestion.  For  the  cloud  is  being  removed. 
The  light  is  now  shining.  Thase  great  and  good  men 
needed  only  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word,  and  all 
would  have  been  plain.  Dr.  Clarke  would  have  then 
known  who  was  the  serpent.  And  Dr.  Watts  would 
have  understood  the  trinity,  the  fall,  and  the  resur- 
rection. It  was  no  want  of  talent  nor  piety  nor  hu- 
man learning  that  these  men  saw  not  the  spiritual 
sense.  The  rock  had  first  to  be  smitten  before  the  wa- 
ters would  gush  forth.  The  seals  of  the  Word  had 
first  to  be  broken,  before  its  internal  sense  could  bo 
known.  No  person  could  know,  from  any  literal  defi- 
nitions of  terms,  what  was  signified  by  the  word  ser- 
pent. He  must  first  be  shown  that  the  serpent  denotes 
a  principle  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  what  that  princi- 
ciple  is.  Had  Dr.  Clarke  seen  this  he  would  never 
have  looked  out  among  the  four-footed  beasts  of  the 
earth,  to  find  what  tempted  Eve. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  we  will  proceed  to 
the  explanation  of  some  of  the  leading  features  in  the 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  173 

first  chapter  of  Genesis.  And  you  will  constantly  bear 
in  mind,  as  we  proceed,  that  the  natural  things  men- 
tioned denote  things  of  the  mind  ;  because  the  whole 
subject  is  the  creation  of  the  human  mind.  Not  of 
one  mind  or  two,  and  at  a  certain  time,  but  of  any 
mind  or  number  of  minds  at  any  time.  And  remem- 
ber, also,  that  a  mind,  in  a  scriptural  sense,  is  never 
considered  created  till  it  is  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God  :  and  that  the  phrase,  "  in  the  beginning,"  is 
as  applicable  to  one  period  of  time  as  to  another. 
There  is  no  beginning  with  God  ;  but  there  is  a  begin- 
ning with  everything  that  is  created.  And  so  far  as 
the  thing  created  is  concerned,  the  work  is  done  in  the 
beginning.  It  is,  therefore,  but  a  feeble  and  fragmen- 
tary thought  that  supposes  that  at  a  certain  time,  in 
the  stillness  of  eternity,  there  was  nothing  in  existence 
but  God  ;  and  that  He  then  spoke  into  being  the  pres- 
ent universe.  What  !  The  mighty  God  exist  from  all 
eternity  up  to  a  certain  time  without  doing  anything  ? 
He  is  an  Eternal  Creator — "  the  same  yesterday,  to  day, 
and  forever" — a  Creator  always.  An  Infinite  and  Eter- 
nal God,  with  an  infinite  and  eternal  field  to  operate 
in,  can  always  have  been  and  forever  be  creating  finite 
worlds  and  things,  without  filling  His  field  or  exhaust- 
ing His  store.  He  is  an  eternal  cause.  And  there 
cannot  be  a  cause  without  an  effect.  It  will  not  do  to 
suppose  that  infinite  Love,  Wisdom  and  Power  ever 
existed  without  action,  for  that  position  could  belong 
only  to  finite  and  passive  things. 

The  chapter  under  consideration  opens  by  saying, 
"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 


174  FIEST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

earth."  Here  commences  the  history  of  the  creation 
of  some  human  mind  or  minds  :  and  it  is  applicable  to 
any  person,  or  persons,  of  any  age  of  the  world,  who 
are  beginning  an  existence  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God.  And,  for  illustration,  let  an  infant  of  an  hour 
lie,  in  imagination,  before  us.  That  helpless  infant  is 
not  a  man.  But  it  is  a  mental  germ,  possessing  planes 
and  tendencies  for  the  possible  reception  and  operation 
of  all  the  elements  of  the  universe  of  mind.  And  with 
proper  influx  and  development,  it  will  become  a  man 
and  an  angel.  The  mind  to  be  formed  and  developed 
from  this  infant,  by  proper  influx  and  action,  is  to  be 
connected  with  two  worlds  ;  the  natural  and  the  spir- 
itual. And  could  we  open  that  little  germ  of  mind 
and  look  into  its  organization,  we  should  find  there  an 
external  plane  of  action,  for  the  cultivation  and  exer- 
cise of  thoughts  and  feelings  in  relation  to  this  earth, 
or  to  material  and  earthly  things.  And  this  earthly 
plane  of  the  mind  is  what  is  meant  by  the  earth  which 
God  is  said  to  have  created  in  the  beginning.  There  is 
also  far  within  that  earthly  plane  of  the  infant  mind, 
a  higher  plane,  for  the  cultivation  and  exercise  of 
thoughts  and  feelings  connected  with  heaven  and  heav- 
enly things.  This  higher  plane  is  what  is  meant  by 
the  heaven  which  God  is  said  to  create  in  the  begin- 
ning. But  this  heaven  and  earth — this  immortal  mind 
— is  hidden  in  the  infant  germ,  in  mere  tendencies  and 
possibilities,  just  as  the  tree  is  concealed  in  the  tenden- 
cies and  possibilities  of  the  acorn.  And  this  little 
mental  earth  or  infant  mind  is  now  "  without  form, 
and  void."  The  mind,  at  this  early  age,  has  no  form 


FIRST    CHAPTER   OF    GENESIS.  175 

or  expression  of  truth.  It  seems  to  "know  nothing 
rationally.  Darkness  is,  literally,  upon  the  face  of  the 
mental  deep.  But  gradually  the  eyes  of  the  little  mind 
begin  to  notice  things  :  the  brain  is  being  developed, 
and  the  child  learns  things  from  without,  through  the 
senses,  and  stores  them  up  in  the  external  memory. 
Thus  he  grows  and  obtains  knowledge.  But  it  is 
worldly  or  natural  knowledge  :  and  water  corresponds 
to  that  knowledge.  Now  this  knowledge  is  the  water 
upon  the  face  of  which  the  Spirit  of  God  is  said  to 
move.  As  the  child  is  taught  to  admit  and  respect  the 
truths  of  this  knowledge,  as  he  obtains  them,  good 
ground  is  formed  in  his  will.  And  it  is  because  of 
this  good  ground,  or  regard  for  the  truth,  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  can  move  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 
For  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  power  of  the  divine  love 
and  wisdom.  Thus  the  youth  begins  to  see  the  use  and 
feel  the  force  of  the  commandments  :  and  to  distinguish 
between  right  and  wrong,  truth  and  falsity.  The  truth 
of  the  Word  operates  upon  the  face  of  his  knowledge, 
or  upon  his  regard  for  the  truth.  If  he  had  no  natural 
knowledge  he  could  not  receive  the  truth  of  the  Word. 
Now,  God  says  to  this  mind,  "  Let  there  be  light  [or 
truth]  :  and  there  was  light."  The  mind  begins  now 
to  really  see,  by  the  light  of  the  Word,  what  are  some 
of  its  natural  duties  of  life.  And  God  saw  the  light  of 
this  mind,  that  it  was  good  for  it.  And  God  divided 
the  light  from  the  darkness  :  or  enabled  the  mind  to 
distinguish  between  truth  and  falsity.  And  God  called 
the  light  day,  because  truth  is  clear ;  and  the  darkness 
He  called  night,  because  falsity  is  obscure.  The  man 


176  FIBST    CHAPTER. OF    GENESIS. 

now  begins  to  see  that  all  truth  is  from  the  Lord,  and 
that  man's  own  wisdom  is  folly.  "  And  the  evening 
and  the  morning  was  the  first  day."  The  evening  is 
the  state  of  shade  and  douht  which  precedes  the  recep- 
tion of  truth,  and  the  morning  is  the  state  of  light 
which  follows.  Here  is  the  first  day,  or  the  first  true 
state,  which  a  man  reaches  in  the  proper  development 
of  his  mind.  He  begins  to  see  and  regard  truths  from 
God.  This  is  a  state  of  natural  faith  in  the  Lord.  It 
is  the  first  day  or  first  real  light  which  belongs  to  the 
mind. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the 
midst  of  the  \vaters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from 

the  waters And  God  called  the  firmament 

heaven."  This  firmament  is  the  rational  plane  of  the 
external  mind — the  heaven  of  the  natural  man.  And 
its  dividing  the  waters  from  the  waters,  is  simply  its 
distinguishing  between  the  truths  that  are  in  the  will, 
or  loved,  and  those  which  are  only  of  the  understand- 
ing, or  seen.  Waters  above  the  firmament  are  truths 
in  the  affections.  Those  under  the  firmament  are 
truths  only  in  the  thoughts.  And  it  is  important  to 
know  whether  we  love  the  truth  or  not.  And  also  to 
see  what  truths  are  loved  and  what  are  not. 

"  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  second 
day,"  The  evening  here  means  the  state  of  shade  and 
doubt  upon  the  subject  of  truths  loved, 'and  truths  only 
seen  :  and  the  morning  is  the  new  light  which  follows. 
Here  we  see  the  second  day,  or  true  state  of  mind, 
which  man  reaches,  in  the  orderly  development  of  his 
mental  abilities.  He  now  understands  the  difference 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  177 

between  truths  loved  and  truths  only  seen.  This  is  a 
state  of  introduction  to  works  of  natural  charity.  For 
these  truths  tell  us  our  duty  to  our  neighbor  ;  and  the 
love  of  them  disposes  us  to  do  that  duty. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven 
be  gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry 
land  appear."  The  waters  under  heaven  are  all  the 
truths  and  knowledges  of  the  external  mind.  And  the 
gathering  of  them  together,  under  heaven,  is  the  stor- 
ing of  them  up  in  the  external  memory.  Letting  the 
dry  land  appear  is  learning  to  see  and  understand 
things  of  the  will  :  to  know  the  state  of  the  heart. 
For  the  dry  land  is  the  will  of  the  external  man  where 
the  seeds  of  natural  truth  are  sown.  God  called  the 
dry  land  earth,  because  it  is  the  will  or  soil  of  the  ex- 
ternal mind  or  mental  earth.  He  called  the  gathering 
together  of  the  waters  seas,  because  seas  are  waters  of 
the  natural  earth  gathered  together,  as  our  knowledges 
are  gathered  together  in  the  memory.  "  And  God 
said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding 
seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth."  Here  the 
earth,  or  will  of  the  external  mind,  is  producing  or 
bringing  forth  good  things,  peaceful  words,  and  kind 
actions,  as  the  fruits  of  the  seeds  of  truth  which  the 
Lord  has  planted. 

"  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  third 
day."  The  evening  here  is  the  state  of  shade  and 
doubt  upon  the  subject  of  obedience  and  good  works. 
And  the  morning  is  the  truth  and  love  which  follow. 
And  we  never  perform  works  of  charity,  in  obedience 

8* 


178  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

to  God's  law,  without  receiving  light  and  joy  as  a  re- 
ward. Here  we  have  the  third  day,  or  third  state, 
which  a  man  reaches  in  the  proper  development  of  his 
mind.  He  "begins  now  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of 
charity  and  faith,  in  good  works.  Here  are  the  union 
and  ultimate  of  faith,  charity  and  good  works,  in  the 
natural  plane  of  the  mind.  This  brings  him  into  a 
state  in  which  the  internal  plane  of  the  mind  can  be 
opened  and  illuminated.  He  is  now  a  good  natural 
man,  prepared,  by  the  literal  truth  of  God's  Word,  for 
higher  light. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light  in  the  firmament 
of  the  heaven,  ...  to  give  light  upon  the  earth." 
The  period  has  now  arrived  in  man's  progress  when  the 
internal  rational  of  his  mind — the  firmament  of  his 
spiritual  heaven — is  opened,  so  that  he  can  receive  into 
his  internal  man,  something  of  the  divine  love,  the  di- 
vine truth  and  true  knowledges,  symbolized  by  the 
Bun,  moon  and  stars.  Under  this  state  of  things,  the 
church — the  kingdom,  of  heaven  in  the  soul — begins  to 
arise,  and  shine  ;  for  its  light  has  come  ;  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  it.  And  this  light  is  in  the 
heaven,  or  internal  mind,  to  give  light  upon  the  earth 
or  external  mind.  And,  from  henceforth,  the  natural 
mind  will  always  have  light  from  above,  to  which  it 
can  look  for  direction.  The  Sun  of  love,  or  of  Righteous- 
ness, will  rule  the  day,  or  when  the  mind  is  in  a  state 
receptive  of  new  truths,  and  is  rejoicing  in  the  light  of 
love  to  God  and  man.  And  the  Moon  of  faith  will 
rule  the  night,  or  when  we  are  in  the  shades  of  apathy 
and  selfhood,  in  the  temptations  of  the  world  ;  hav- 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  179 

ing,  at  the  same  time,  for  support  the  stars  of  divine 
truth,  prominent  in  the  commandments,  as  fixed  and 
eternal  principles  of  knowledge,  constantly  beaming 
from  the  mental  heaven.  Then,  should  the  Lord,  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  seem,  for  a  season  to  be  hid  from 
our  view,  yet,  true  faith  in  Him  would  sustain  us  with 
the  assurance  that  our  Lord  liveth  :  just  as  the  moon 
assures  us,  when  the  sun  is  out  of  sight,  that  he  still 
shines.  The  moon,  then,  like  true  faith,  is  truly  the 
evidence  of  something  not  seen. 

"  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fourth 
day."  The  evening  here  is  the  state  of  shade  and  doubt 
respecting  the  internal  mind  ;  and  the  morning  is  the 
state  of  light  which  follows  the  illumination  of  the 
heaven.  Here  we  have  the  fourth  day  or  state  of  the 
true  development  of  the  mind,  when  the  internal  plane 
becomes  opened  to  the  reception  of  the  spiritual  sense 
of  the  Holy  Word,  whereby  the  natural  man  can  be 
governed  by  higher  and  clearer  truth,  and  purer  love. 
Up  to  this  time,  or  during  the  first  three  days,  the 
natural  mind  or  earth,  only,  has  been  developed;  and 
that  by  natural  sciences  and  natural  truths  of  the 
Word. 

The  first  day,  or  state  of  light,  was  when  the  Spirit 
of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  or  excited 
the  affection  of  the  common  knowledge  of  the  mind,  to 
see  the  literal  truth  of  the  commandments,  causing 
light  or  day  to  be  in  the  mind  from  God. 

The  second  day  or  state  was  when  man  began  to  love 
the  truth,  and  to  distinguish  between  truth  loved,  and 
truth  only  seen  :  so  that  he  could  then  divide  the  wa- 


180  FIRST    CHAPTER   OF    GENESIS. 

ters  or  truths  which  were  in  the  understanding  from 
those  in  the  will. 

The  third  day  or  state  was  when  he  began  to  do  the 
good  works,  from  the  union  of  this  love  and  this  truth; 
denoted  by  the  earth  or  natural  mind  bringing  forth 
grass,  and  herbs,  and  trees.  Thus,  the  first  three  days 
have  relation  to  the  understanding,  the  will,  and  the 
action  of  the  natural  mind  ;  or  to  faith,  charity  and 
works. 

The  first  day,  is  the  truth  seen  and  acknowledged  ; 
the  second,  is  the  truth  yielded  to  and  loved  ;  the 
third,  is  truth  obeyed  from  love,  or  through  faith  and 
charity.  This  brings  the  natural  mind,  or  external 
man,  into  outward  order,  by  means  of  natural  faith, 
charity  and  works,  through  the  literal  truth  of  the 
Word.  But  it  does  not  make  him  a  spiritual  man. 
Yet  he  never  could  become  a  spiritual  man,  till  after 
he  had  passed  through  this  process.  "  First  that  which 
is  natural,  and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual." 

But  the  fourth  day  opens  our  heaven,  or  internal 
mind,  to  the  reception  of  the  glorious  light  of  the  in- 
ternal sense  of  the  Word,  symbolized  by  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars.  This  light  is  to  come  aown  from,  our  heaven 
to  our  earth,  to  spiritualize  the  whole  natural  mind, 
filling  everything  with  new  light  and  higher  life,  making 
natural  truth  as  spiritual  ;  or  turning  the  water  into 
•v^ine  ;  causing  our  whole  natural  mind  to  act  from 
spiritual  influences.  This  change  is  what  God  means 
when  he  says,  "  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."  And 
for  this  purpose,  the  history  continues,  "  And  God 
said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the  moving 


FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  181 

creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the 
earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven."  Thus  the 
waters,  the  natural  truths  of  the  mind  become  illumi- 
nated and  impregnated  with  spiritual  life  from  the 
Lord,  the  spiritual  Sun.  And  the  history  says  they 
brought  forth  great  whales  and  every  living  creature 
that  moveth.  That  is  :  they  brought  forth  the  great 
sciences  of  the  spiritual  doctrines  of  the  Word,  and  the 
science  of  correspondences.  And  these  are  indeed  great 
whales.  They  are  the  largest  scientifics  in  the  sea,  or 
knowledge  of  the  human  mind.  And  thence  the  very 
thoughts  become  spiritually  alive.  These  thoughts  are 
signified  by  the  birds  that  fly  above  the  earth  in  the 
open  firmament  of  heaven. 

"  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fifth 
day."  The  evening  is  the  state  of  shade  and  doubt, 
which  we  first  have  in  the  natural  mind,  respecting  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  ;  and  the  morning  is  the 
state  which  follows  the  descent  of  spiritual  light  from 
the  heaven  of  the  mind  into  the  natural  plane.  Here 
we  have  the  fifth  day,  or  state  of  development,  when 
the  natural  mind  becomes  receptive  of  spiritual  light 
from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within.  We  now  give 
God  the  glory  for  every  true  thought,  and  for  every 
scientific  and  rational  principle  of  our  mental  earth. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living 
creature  after  his  kind,  cattle,  and  creeping  thing,  and* 
beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind  :  and  it  was  so." 
Here  by  the  aid  of  the  sun  of  love,  and  the  moon  of 
faith,  and  the  stars  of  knowledge,  in  the  heaven  of  the 
mind,  the  natural  man  or  earth  is  enabled  to  bring  forth 


182  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

beasts  and  birds,  and  creeping  things  which  have  life  : 
or  all  good  affections,  true  thoughts,  and  kind  actions- 
Before  the  heavens  were  opened,  when  we  had  not  the 
Sun  of  Kighteousness  in  our  heart,  or  did  not  truly 
love  the  Lord  as  spirit  and  life,  our  earthly  mind  brought 
forth  nothing  but  grass,  herbs  and  trees  ;  or  the  fruits 
of  natural  obedience.  But  now,  it  brings  forth  spirit- 
ual things,  living  affections,  and  heavenly  thoughts, 
signified  by  beasts,  birds,  cattle,  and  creeping  things 
that  have  life.  This  is  a  glorious  state  of  the  church 
when  we  are  filled  with  true  light  and  life,  with  heav- 
enly thoughts  and  feelings  of  every  variety.  As  this 
propitious  state  is  reached  in  the  progress  of  regenera- 
tion, and  man  is  about  to  be  completed  as  far  as  the 
spiritual  degree,  G-od  continues  the  history  by  saying, 
"  Let  us  make  Man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness." 
That  is  :  Let  us  now  complete  the  spiritual  work,  and 
bring  man  more  fully  up  into  our  image,  after  our 
likeness.  Let  us  give  him  what  makes  him  more  fully 
a  man,  which  is  "  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  all  the  earth, 
and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth."  To  have  dominion  over  all  these  things  is 
simply  for  man  to  have  the  government  of  himself ;  to 
control  all  his  thoughts,  feelings,  affections,  passions, 
and  propensities.  In  this  light  only  can  this  Scripture 
be  understood.  For  what  dominion  has  man  over  the 
eagle  that  flies  above  the  mountain  summit  ;  or  over 
the  wild  beast  of  the  impenetrable  forest,  or  the  mon- 
sters of  the  unknown  deep  ?  But  man  was  to  have 
dominion  over  every  living  creature.  Has  he  got  it  ? 


FIEST    CHAPTEK    OF    GENESIS.  183 

Can  he  command  the  soaring  vultures  or  voracious  al- 
ligators to  come  down  from  their  heights  and  up  from 
their  depths  and  stand  submissive  at  his  feet,  and  they 
obey  him  ?  He  may  shoot  them  ;  or  entrap  and  encage 
them,  but  that  is  no  dominion.  He  may  lead  them  by 
their  appetites,  or  ensnare  them  by  stratagem  ;  but 
dominion  means  more  than  this.  He  cannot  call  them 
out,  at  the  fiat  of  his  will,  and  march  them  forth  at 
his  command.  He  has  no  such  dominion.  Further- 
more, he  was  to  have  dominion,  not  only  over  these 
creatures,  but  also  over  the  earth  itself.  And  what 
control  has  he  over  the  earth  upon  which  we  stand?  It 
rolls  on  its  axis  and  pursues  its  annual  round,  regard- 
less of  the  will  of  man.  No  :  it  is  his  mental  earth 
over  which  he  is  to  have  dominion.  He  was  to  possess 
the  government  over  his  external  or  earthly  mind  and 
nature.  But  in  order  to  do  this  each  human  mind  is 
endowed  with  a  will  and  an  understanding  which  are 
the  male  and  female  elements  of  that  mind.  For  all 
dominion,  and  even  action,  in  any  person  is  from  the 
united  power  of  these  elements.  The  understanding 
is  the  male  element  ;  and  the  will,  the  female.  When 
the  will  is  filled  with  goodness  and  the  understanding 
with  truth,  and  they  become  thereby  united,  they  are 
prepared  to  work  for  a  dominion  overall  the  principles 
of  the  external  mind  or  earth  ;  and  even  over  the  entire 
earthly  mind  itself.  But  this  dominion  is  gained  only 
as  the  mind,  by  means  of  this  union,  becomes  fruitful 
and  multiplies  in  goods  and  truths,  and  thereby  replen- 
ishes the  earth,  or  external  mind,  with  those  new  goods 
and  truths,  as  its  evils  and  falses  are  removed  or  sub- 


184  FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

dued.  Thus  is  our  mental  eartli  to  be  subdued  and 
brought  under  subjection  to  the  Lord  in  the  internal 
mind. 

"  And  God  saw  every  thing  that  He  had  made,  and, 
behold,  it  was  very  good."  God  has,  thus  far,  done  a 
good  work.  But  it  is  not  yet  completed.  The  do- 
minion is  not  yet  gained. 

"  The  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  sixth  day." 
The  evening  is  the  state  of  shade  and  doubt  respecting 
this  dominion  and  the  way  of  obtaining  it  ;  and  the 
morning  is  the  new  light  which  shows  us  the  work  be- 
fore us,  and  how  to  pursue  it.  Man  is  now  in  God's 
image,  but  not  in  His  likeness.  He  is  a  spiritual  man. 
This  image  is  after  God's  likeness.  The  love  of  the 
truth  gives  us  God's  image.  The  love  of  goodness  gives 
us  His  likeness. 

This  likeness  is  to  be  gained  by  being  fruitful,  and 
multiplying  and  replenishing  the  earth,  and  subduing 
it.  This  work,  when  accomplished,  brings  us  into  the 
seventh  day  or  state  of  rest,  when  we  possess  both  the 
image  and  the  likeness  of  God,  and  are  prepared  to  en- 
joy with  delight,  the  society  of  the  angels  of  heaven. 
To  be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth, 
and  subdue  it,  is  to  cultivate  the  affections,  the  ground 
of  the  heart,  by  a  good  life  ;  sowing  therein  all  the 
good  seeds  or  truths  of  the  commandments,  subduing 
all  the  thorns  of  error,  the  nettles  of  vice,  the  thistles 
of  deception,  and  the  briers  of  selfishness  ;  until  the 
mind  becomes  a  garden  of  Eden,  filled  with  good  fruits ; 
a  paradise  of  God,  cultivated,  subdued  and  replen- 
ished ;  so  that  we  have  the  complete  control  over  all 


FIKST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  185 

the  birds,  beasts  and  creeping  things  of  our  nature,  or 
over  all  our  thoughts,  feelings  and  actions.  Then,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  will  be  fully  established  within  us. 
We  shall  have  come  to  the  full  sabbath  of  rest ;  and  all 
will  be  happiness  and  peace.  God  will  bless  us;  and  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth  will  Draise  Him. 


CHAPTEE  XL 

THE    SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS    AND    THE    MAKING 
OF    THE    WOMAN    OF    THE    RIB. 

"  And  the  LORD  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should 
be  alone  ;  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him.  And  the  LORD 
God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and  he  slept ;  and  He 
took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof;  and 
the  rib,  which  the  LORD  God  had  taken  from  man,  made  He  a 
woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man.  And  Adam  said,  This  is 
now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  :  she  shall  be  called 
Woman  because  she  was  taken  out  of  Man." — (Gen.  ii.  18,  21,  22,  23.) 

IF  we  would  understand  God's  Word,  we  must  ever 
remember  that  it  always  treats  of  things  of  the  mind. 
^That  the  human  mind  is  its  universal  theme  :  that 
natural  things  are  mentioned,  only,  because  they  are 
symbols  of  things  of  the  mind  :  and  because,  in  this 
life,  spiritual  things  can  be  described,  or  seen,  only 
through  natural  things,  by  correspondences.  And 
though,  from  a  little  reflection,  we  may  see  that  this 
must  be  the  case,  yet  we  are  so  natural  and  so  grovel- 
ling that  we  are  apt  to  lose  sight  of  this  great  fact  and 
fall  into  darkness  and  mystery. 

Thus,  when  we  read  about  Adam  and  Eve,  we  are 
apt  to  think  of  their  material  bodies  instead  of  them- 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  187 

selves.  We  think  of  the  mere  tabernacles  of  clay  that 
they  lived  in,  without  letting  our  thoughts  ascend  up 
to  the  inhabitants  of  these  tabernacles,  the  real  beings 
themselves.  Now,  until  we  get  into  the  habit  of  look- 
ing above  the  mere  gross  matter  of  this  earth,  for  men 
and  women,  we  shall  never  understand  God's  Holy 
Word.  Indeed,  it  is  in  consequence  of  our  low  natural 
state  of  mind  that  the  Word  seems  clothed  in  such 
mystery.  For,  when  it  is  said  that  the  Lord  God  took 
from  Adam's  side  a  rib,  and  made  a  woman  of  it,  who 
thinks  of  anything  but  matter  ?  a  material  woman  ? 
Who  thinks  of  her  soul,  and  her  life  ?  Who  thinks 
of  any  part  of  her,  as  coming  from  any  other  source 
than  the  rib  ?  The  mind,  the  affections,  the  will  and 
understanding  ;  the  very  woman  herself ;  everything 
that  can  love,  and  think,  and  feel ;  all  that  is  noble 
and  immortal  is  not  even  dreamed  of,  or  taken  into  the 
account.  And  yet  these  things- were  never  made  of 
matter. 

Even  the  learned  commentators  have  never  looked 
up  above  the  rib  for  this  woman.  They  have  seemed 
to  think  that  the  whole  woman  ;  all  there  was  of  her, 
was  made  of  the  man's  rib.  They  do  not  mention  her 
soul  ;  but  are  content  to  believe  that  the  woman,  the 
wife  of  Adam,  was  made  of  one  of  his  ribs.  I  commend 
them  for  'this  modesty,  and  for  their  humble  reliance 
upon  the  letter  of  God's  Word.  It  is  all  men  can 
know  about  it,  who  see  no  higher  than  the  literal  sense. 
The  commentators  have  tried  to  believe  that  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis  is  somewhat  explanatory  of  the  first. 
But  every  step  in  that  direction  has  but  increased  the 


188  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

darkness.  Thus,  Scott,  in  commencing  his  notes  upon 
the  second  chapter,  says,  "  The  sacred  historian,  having 
given  a  brief  account  of  the  orderly  production  of  all 
things,  explains,  in  this  chapter,  some  particulars,  more 
fully,  which  would  otherwise  have  interrupted  the  order 
of  his  narrative."  Here  Mr.  Scott  admits  that  we  have 
an  account  of  the  creation  of  man,  male  and  female,  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  But,  in  the  first  chapter, 
it  does  not  mention  of  what  material  man  was  made  ; 
nor  that  he  was  so  much  as  a  living  soul.  It  simply 
says,  "  God  created  man  in  His  own  image,  in  the 
image  of  God  created  He  him  :  male  and  female  created 
He  them ;  and  blessed .  them  ;  and  said,  Be  fruitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it." 

But  in  the  second  chapter  it  says,  "  The  LORD  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives  ;  and  man  became 
a  living  soul."  But.no  literal  reader  of  the  Word  sup- 
poses that  Eve  was  made  at  this  time  with  Adam,  and 
received  the  breath  of  lives  and  became  a  living  soul ; 
for  the  narrative  gives  the  account  of  her  creation  after- 
ward, of  the  rib  ;  but  it  gives  no  account  of  any  breath 
of  lives  being  breathed  into  her,  to  make  her  a  living 
soul.  Hence  the  commentators,  generally,  have  taken 
it  for  granted,  that  Eve,  the  wife  of  Adam,  was  made 
of  his  rib  :  and  that  Adam  was  made  of  the  dust  of 
the  earth. 

But  the  discrepancies  between  the  two  chapters  are 
so  great,  that  all  attempts  to  make  the  second  explana- 
tory of  the  first,  have  failed.  The  first  chapter  says 
that  man — male  and  female — was  made  on  the  sixth 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  189 

and  we  should  suppose  that  they  were  both  made 
at  the  same  time,  and  not  until  after  the  animals  were 
made.  But  the  second  chapter  says  that  Adam,  or 
Man,  was  first  made,  and  that  afterward  God  planted 
a  garden,  and  there  He  put  the  man  ;  and  that  He  next 
caused  to  grow  out  of  the  ground,  every  tree  that  is 
pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food  ;  and  the  tree 
of  life  also,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Here  the  man  was  alone 
all  the  time  that  the  trees  were  growing  up,  from  the 
planting  until  they  bore  fruit.  And  the  man,  it  seems, 
in  this  solitude,  with  no  human  being  to  enjoy  these 
blessings  with  him,  was  commanded  not  to  eat  of  a  cer- 
tain tree.  And  it  seems  that  he  did  not  eat  of  it  until 
some  time  after  the  command  was  given,  nor  until  the 
woman  had  been  made  of  the  rib.  For  it  was  not  un- 
til after  Adam  had  lived  in  the  garden,  to  see  these 
trees  grow  up,  and  bear  fruit,  and  had  received  the 
command  not  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  and  after  the  Lord  God  had  seen  that  it  was 
not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,  and  had  promised  to  make 
an  help  meet  for  him  ;  and  also  after  he  had  further 
gone  to  work  and  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and 
••'  fowl  of  the  air,  and  had  brought  them  to  Adam 
to  sec  what  he  would  call  them,  and  after  Adam  had 
given  the  names  to  all  cattle,  and  the  fowl  of  the  air, 
.and  every  beast  of  the  field — it  was  not  until  after  all 
this  had  taken  place  that  Eve  was  formed  of  the  rib, 
and  the  forbidden  fruit  was  eaten.  Thus,  in  the  first 
chapter,  every  other  thing  was  created  before  man.  He 
was  the  last  thing  formed.  Man  was  made  male  and 


190  SECOND    CHAPTEB    OF    GENESIS. 

female  on  the  sixth,  day.  And  G-od  said  t<j  him,  B<>  > 
hold  I  have  given  you  every  herb  bearing  seed,  which, 
is  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  every  tree  in  the 
which  is  the  fruit  yielding  seed  :  to  you  it  shall  be  for 
meat. 

But,  in  the  second  chapter,  it  appears  that  Adam 
without  Eve,  was  made  before  the  trees  were,  of  which 
he  was  to  eat ;  and  before  the  beasts  and  birds  were 
made  :  and  that  he  was  put  alone  in  the  garden,  which 
God  had  planted,  before  the  trees  had  come  up  :  and 
that  the  beasts,  and  birds,  and  trees,  were  made  after 
Adam  was  made,  but  before  Eve  was  made  :  and  that 
the  command,  not  to  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit  was  not 
given  to  Eve,  personally  ;  but  only  to  Adam  :  for  Eve 
was  not  made  until  some  time  after  the  command  was 
given.  Now  these  are  all  strange  things,  if  we  look 
only  to  the  literal  sense.  Every  attempt  to  reconcile, 
or  explain  them,  has  only  deepened  the  darkness.  And 
the  pious  commentator  has  felt  his  own  weakness  in 
the  matter  ;  and  has  humbly  believed  in  the  mystery, 
saying,  "  Let  G-od  be  true,  and  every  man  a  liar." 

But  we  should  know  that  all  this  divine  history  is 
about  the  minds  of  men,  rather  than  their  bodies.  It 
teaches  the  order  of  the  creation  and  development  of 
the  human  mind.  It  is  the  immortal  soul — the  mind — 
that  is  the  man.  It  is  this  that  Grod  talks  about  and 
cares  for.  The  spiritual  world — the  eternal  world — 
the  world  of  mind — is  the  world  which  God  speaks  of 
creating.  Now,  if  we  can  only  see  and  acknowledge, 
that  there  are  two  worlds — a  world  of  mind  and  a  world 
of  matter— and  that  the  world  of  mind  has  as  many 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  191 

things  in  it  as  the  world  of  matter  has  ;  and  that  the 
things  of  both  worlds  are  called  by  the  same  names, 
we  shall  then  be  able  to  understand  more  clearly  the 
teachings  of  the  Holy  Word.  For  we  shall  see  that 
the  mind  has  its  mountains  of  sin  or  holiness,  its  rivers 
of  truth  or  falsehood,  its  stars  of  light,  its  sun  of  • 
righteousness,  its  trees  of  knowledge,  its  lambs  of  inno- 
cence, its  wolves  of  cruelty,  its  foxes  of  deceit,  its  ser- 
pents of  subtlety.  We  shall  indeed  see  that  all  the 
things  of  nature  denote  things  of  the  mind.  For  mind 
produced  them  :  mind  gives  them  life  ;  and  therefore 
they  must  represent  the  mental  quality  which  gives 
them  form  and  use.  And,  as  the  various  principles  of 
the  mind  bear  the  same  names  as  the  things  of  nature 
do  which  denote  them,  so  we  may  always  readily  know 
something  about  what  God  means,  when  He  talks  about 
the  things  of  nature. 

Now  the  Divine  Word  commences  by  giving  a  his- 
tory of  the  creation  of  the  human  mind  ;  no  matter 
what  natural  thing  is  mentioned,  it  means  something 
of  the  mind.  And  it  continues  to  describe  the  states 
and  qualities  of  the  human  mind  until  it  comes  to  its 
close  in  the  Apocalypse.  Primarily,  it  treats  of  nothing 
else  but  the  mind.  All  its  creations  and  falls,  its  lights 
and  shades,  its  days  and  nights,  its  heats  and  colds,  its 
times  and  seasons,  its  floods  and  droughts,  its  clouds 
and  sunshines,  its  storms  and  calms,  its  earthquakes 
and  tempests,  its  lives,  deaths  and  diseases,  wars  and 
tumults  ;  everything  it  says  describes  states  and  quali- 
ties of  the  minds  of  men.  Yet  we  are  not  to  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  there  is  much  literal  history  in 


192  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

the  divine  Word,  which  took  place,  in  this  world,  as 
there  recorded.  But  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  a  history 
of  the  human  mind,  and  accurately  describes,  by  cor- 
respondences, the  things  that  were  going  on  there.  But 
there  are  also  many  portions  of  the  Word  which  are 
•given  solely  on  account  of  the  spiritual  sense,  when  the 
literal  events  did  not  occur,  as  recorded  in  this  world. 

Such  are  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  much  of 
the  books  of  Ezekiel  and  of  the  Apocalypse  ;  and  occa- 
sional sentences  throughout  the  entire  Word  ;  thrown 
in  to  complete  the  spiritual  sense,  when  the  literal  event 
could  not  occur.  This  is  done  because  the  spiritual 
sense  is  the  life  of  the  Word,  which  reaches  the  soul, 
and  becomes  the  spiritual  and  eternal  life  of  them  that 
receive  it;  while  the  literal  sense  is  the  vessel  which 
presents  that  life.  Therefore,  whether  the  literal  event 
occurred  or  not,  the  spiritual  sense  is  equally  important, 
and  comes  in  an  equally  important  vessel.  We  there- 
fore need  not  be  over  anxious  to  know  precisely  wrhat 
events  actually  occurred  in  this  world,  and  what  did 
not,  as  the  spiritual  events  more  essentially  concern  us. 

But  let  us  not  be  hasty  to  decide  against  the  occur- 
rence of  any  natural  event  recorded  in  the  Word.  It  is 
the  spiritual  sense  which  we  can  understand  which  most 
concerns  us.  Let  us  thankfully  receive  and  obey  this  ; 
and  when  further  advanced  in  spiritual  life  we  may  be 
able  to  see  more  clearly  how  far  the  natural  events  ac- 
tually took  place. 

With  these  general  remarks,  let  us  now  glance  at  (ho 
subject  of  our  text,  in  its  spiritual  light.  For,  in  this 
light,  all  the  apparent  discrepancies,  between  the  first 
and  second  chapters  of  Genesis,  pass  away.  Keinember, 


SECOND    CHAPTER     OF    GENESIS.  193 

it  is  the  mind  of  man  that  is  treated  of.  And  that 
when  the  first  chapter  ends,  the  naind  of  man  is  not 
finished.  It  has  then  only  reached  a  certain  state  in 
its  progress.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  completing  or 
finishing  the  creation  of  the  human  mind.  It  may 
progress  for  ever,  and  still  be  incomplete.  There  will 
be  more  knowledge  to  add  to  it.  It  is  nothing  else  than 
an  organized  substance  of  affections  and  thoughts  ;  or 
things  of  the  will  and  understanding  arranged  in  a  hu- 
man form,  in  a  spiritual  body  and  capable  of  being 
taught  of  God.  And  such  as  is  the  quality  of  its  know- 
ledge and  desires,  such  will  be  its  beauty  or  deformity, 
its  happiness  or  misery  :  and  it  is  free  to  learn  and 
practise  either  good  or  evil. 

The  word  "  Man,"  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
means  mankind — the  human  race — male  and  female, 
without  regard  to  numbers.  The  history  is  a  history 
of  the  creation  of  the  human  mind,  in  mass  ;  of  hu- 
manity, or  human  nature  at  large.  '  Adam  means  man- 
kind. The  words  "  Adam  and  Eve,"  in  their  distinct 
differences,  do  not  mean  one  man  and  one  woman  ; 
they  mean  the  two  great  elements  of  the  human  mind 
— the-  male  and  female  elements  ;  extending  through 
the  whole  human  family.  They  mean  the  Adam  or 
male  principle,  and  the  Eve  or  female  principle  of  the 
race.  These  two  elements  of  the  mind  are  the  under- 
standing and  the  will.  The  understanding,  in  the  spir- 
itual degree  of  the  mind,*  is  the  male  principle  or 

*  In  the  celestial  degree,  the  will  is  the  male  and  the  under- 
standing the  female.  But  in  these  lectures  we  explain  only  to 
the  spiritual  sense. 

9 


194  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS, 

Adam  of  the  mind  ;  and  the  will  is  the  female 
principle  or  Eve  of  the  mind.  These  principles  belong 
to  all  minds,  both  of  men  and  women.  Every  person, 
therefore,  has  his  Adam  and  his  Eve  of  the  mind  ; 
or  his  understanding  and  his  will.  In  the  women,  the 
will  principle,  the  love  or  affections — the  female  element 
— predominates.  In  men,  the  understanding — the  rea- 
soning element — the  male  principle  predominates.  And 
as  woman  has  the  broader  will,  affections,  tenderness 
and  mercy  ;  and  man  the  deeper  understanding,  judg- 
ment, reason  and  courage  ;  so  the  two  brought  to- 

7  o   i  fc^'ii 

gether  make  one  mind,  more  full  and  perfect  than  either 
could  be  by  itself.  For  each  supplies  the  other's  de- 
ficiency. Their  marriage,  thvrefore,  gives  them  that 
fulness  of  happiness,  which  they  could  hot  otherwise 
enjoy. 

Now,  in  order  to  give,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
a  history  of  the  creation  of  the  human  mind  in  mass, 
God  has  apparently 'given  a  history  of  the  creation  of 
natural  things,  because  they  represent  things  of  the 
mind.  And  the  things  are  so  arranged,  in  the  history, 
in  their  order,  as  to  show  the  regular  creation  and  de- 
velopment of  the  mind. 

In  the  order  of  creation  the  natural  or  external  man, 
called  the  earth  of  the  mind,  is  always  first  developed. 
This  development  is  described  in  the  first  chapter  by 
the  earth  bringing  forth  grass,  and  plants,  and  trees ; 
things  which  denote  principles  of  the  natural  mind. 
Then,  as  the  human  race  grows  up  to  years  of  under- 
standing, there  follows  an  account  of  the  creation  or 
development  of  the  internal  mind,  or  heavens,  which  is 


SECOND    CHAPTEB    OF    GENESIS.  195 

described  by  the  creation  of  the  snn,  moon  and  stars 
and  of  the  animals  ;  things  \vhich  denote  the  principles 
of  the  spiritual  mind.  Then  follows  what  is  called  the 
creation  of  man,  where  God  says,  Let  us  make  man  in 
our  image.  He  had  been  making  man  all  the  while, 
but  had  not  brought  him  into  His  image.  This  was 
done  by  bringing  the  internal  and  external  minds — their 
wills  and  understandings — together,  into  harmony  ;  so 
that  the  male  and  female  elements  of  the  mind,  could 
work  together. 

Here  closes  the  fir-t  chapter.  The  mind  of  the  race 
is  becoming  spiritual.  But  their  work  is  not  done. 
The  commqjml  to  them  is  to  be  fruitful,  and  multiply, 
arid  replenish  tho»ca^h,  and  subdue  it ;  which  shows 
that  the  mind,  t^P mental  earth,  is  not  yet  subdued 
and  replenished.*  And  it  also  shows  that  the  various 
principles,  which  God  is  giving  it,  must  bring  forth 
after  their  kind.  The  race  has  only  now  entered  upon 
the  sixth  day  or  state.  It  has  not  reached  the  seventh. 
It  has  not  come  to  its  rest.  It  has  much  labor  to  do 
first.  It  is  now  in  its  spiritual  working  state.  In  this 
state  truth  rules. 

In  the  second  chapter  man  progresses  on  to  the  ce- 
lestial state  ;  or  to  where  love  predominates.  But  this 
state  he  does  not  reach  until  he  has  gained  the  entire 
control  over  all  the  lower  principles  of  his  mind,  which 
require  much  cultivation  and  development.  Therefore, 
in  order  to  reach  this  state,  God  commands  him,  in  the 
first  chapter,  to  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  every  living  thing  that  rnoveth 
upon  the  earth.  Which  means  that  he  shall  get  con- 


196  SECOND   CHAPTER   OF   GENESIS. 

trol  over  all  the  passions,  principles  and  propensities  of 
the  mind  and  body.  This  would  prepare  the  race  for 
the  seventh  state  of  mind,  or  sabbath  of  rest,  mentioned 
in  the  second  chapter.  For  here  the  Lord  says,  that, 
on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  His  work  which  he 
had  made  ;  and  He  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all 
His  work  which  He  had  made.  This  closes  the  spiritual 
labor  and  introduces  to  a  still  higher  order  of  things ; 
or  to  a  further  development,  in  which  man  is  to  be 
made  celestial,  or  to  be  advanced  to  a  state  in  which 
love  predominates.  And,  in  speaking  of  this  higher 
state,  it  is  said,  in  the  second  chapter,  there  was  not  a 
man  to  till  the  ground. 

Now  what  does  this  mean  when  the  whole  human 
race  had  been  created,  and  had  advanced  to  the  spirit- 
ual state ;  and  had  replenished  the  eafth  and  subdued 
it?  We  shall  see  what  it  means  by  noticing  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  terms  used  in  the  two  chapters,  to  denote 
the  external  plane  of  the  mind.  In  the  first  chapter  it 
is  called  the  earth ;  and  in  the  second  chapter  it  is 
called  the  ground.  In  the  first  chapter  they  were  to 
subdue  the  earth.  In  the  second  chapter  they  were  to 
till  the  ground.  Subduing  the  earth  is  spiritual  labor  ; 
tilling  the  ground  is  celestial  labor.  Subduing  the 
earth  makes  it  good  ground  for  tilling.  The  reason 
there  was  no  man  to  till  the  ground  is,  there  was  then 
no  celestial  man.  Man  had  advanced  only  to  the  spirit- 
ual state.  There  were  many  men  to  subdue  the  earth ; 
or  to  overcome  and  strengthen  the  natural  mind.  But 
there  was  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground,  or  to  fill  the 
natural  mind  with  celestial  life,  by  tilling  it  from  love. 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  197 

The  earth  means  the  external  mind  made  spiritual, 
or  acting  from  the  love  of  truth.  The  ground  means 
the  external  mind  made  celestial,  or  acting  from  the 
love  of  good.  To  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue 
it  is  to  dispose  the  external  man  to  do  right,  because 
he  sees  it  to  be  right.  This  is  the  spiritual  state,  when 
the  truth  rules.  To  till  the  ground  is  to  dispose  the 
external  man  to  do  right,  because  he  feels  it  to  be  right. 
This  is  the  celestial  state,  when  love  rules.  There- 
fore it  is,  thatthere  was  said  to  be  no  man  to  till  the 
ground — nobody  yet  celestial. 

You  will  notice  that  in  tho  first  chapter  the  ground 
is  not  mentioned  ;  but  it  is  the  earth  that  brings  forth  : 
and  the  word  God  only  is  used.  By  which  we  are  to 
understand  that  tile  human  mind  was  all  the  while  un- 
der the  control  of  the  truth,  and  becoming  spiritual, 
being  educated  and  instructed  by  truth.  But,  in  ad- 
vancing man  to  a  higher  state,  in  the  second  chapter, 
the  word  ground  is  used,  and  it  is  the  Lord  God  who 
does  the  work  :  or,  in  the  original,  Jehovah  God,  or 
Love  and  Truth.  In  the  first  chapter  it  is  God,  opera- 
ting as  the  Truth,  that  makes  man  spiritual.  But  in 
the  second  chapter  it  is  Jehovah  God,  or,  both  the 
Truth  and  Love  operating  together  in  the  heart,  that 
makes  man  celestial.  Therefore,  though  it  may  be 
thought,  by  some,  that  the  second  chapter  is  a  repeti- 
tion of  man's  creation  in  the  first  chapter,  yet  it  is  not 
so. 

The  second  chapter  takes  man  where  the  first  leaves 
him,  and  advances  him  on  from  the  spiritual  state  to 
the  celestial  state.  And  this  advancement  is  described 


198  SECOND    CHAPTEE   OF    GENESIS. 

in  the  following  language  :  •  "  And  the  LORD  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives  ;  and  man  became 
a  living  soul."  Here  we  see  that  the  celestial  state  is 
effected  by  bringing  love  and  good  will  down  into  the 
lowest,  smallest  things  of  the  external  mind — into  the 
very  dust  of  the  ground.  Now  this  is  accomplished  by 
doing  all  the  little  things  of  life  kindly,  from  the  love 
of  the  neighbor.  Dust  denotes  the  lowest  external 
natural  things  of  man.  This  work  is  what  forms  man  of 
the  dust  of  the  ground.  It  makes  him-  manly  in  small 
things.  Thus  man  tills  the  ground  of  the  mind  until 
the  very  lowest  natural  things  are  filled  with  celestial 
love — love  to  God,  and  good  will  toward  men.  Then 
the  whole  man  is  celestial — lovely.  This  makes  man  a 
living  soul ;  because  it  makes  all  his  natural  affections 
alive  with  love 

Now  he  is  prepared  to  make  a  garden  of  the  mind  ; 
because  he  can  now  till  the  ground.  Therefore,  it  is 
next  said  that,  "  the  LORD  God  planted  a  garden  east- 
ward in  Eden."  This  garden  of  Eden,  is  the  human 
mind  ;  not  of  one  person,  only  ;  but  of  all  the  human 
family  then  upon  the  earth.  The  race  was  advancing 
from  spiritual  to  celestial.  The  trees  of  this  garden 
are  all  the  principles  of  the  mind  growing  from  the 
ground  of  love.  The  rivers  of  the  garden  are  truths 
flowing  from  the  Lord.  Here  the  human  family,  in  this 
stata  of  paradise,  were  commanded  to  dress  and  keep 
this  garden  of  the  mind.  Here  all  the  principles  of 
the  mind  were  made  new,  and  put  on  the  celestial  as- 
pect and  quality.  The  very  affections  of  the  soul  were 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  199 

new  ;  and  the  people  understood  their  quality  :  they 
could  read  their  own  hearts. 

This  state  is  described  in  the  following  language  : 
"  Out  of  the  ground  the  LORD  (rod  formed  every  beast 
of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air  ;  and  brought 
them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them." 
Beasts  of  the  field  denote  man's  affections  ;  and  birds 
of  the  air,  his  thoughts.  And  Adam  gave  names  to 
them.  To  name  a  thing  is  to  ascertain  its  quality. 
Thus  the  human  race,  at  that  age,  understood  the 
quality  of  all.  their  affections  and  thoughts  :  or,  they 
could  give  names  to  all  their  beasts  and  birds. 

Here,  in  the  second  chapter,  we  see  that  the  animals 
and  trees  are  created  over  again.  It  is  because,  in  the 
first  chapter,  these  principles  of  the  mind  were  created 
from  the  truth  :  and  the  earth  produced  them.  Now 
they  are  created  from  love  :  and  the  ground  gives  them 
forth,  and  man  becomes  a  living  soul.  Here  we  have 
the  highest  state  to  which  the  human  race  advanced 
before  the  fall ;  and  yet  Eve  is  not  mentioned.  Here 
they  were,  in  their  purity  and  happiness.  There  were 
many  of  them,  no  doubt,  -in  number,  both  males  and 
females.  For  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  that  it 
must  have  taken  many  years  to  advance  the  human 
race  from  a  state  of  entire  ignorance,  when  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  up  to  this  high  state  of 
celestial  light  and  joy.  And  how  many  ages  they  en- 
joyed this  high  state,  before  they  fell,  we  know  not. 

But  in  process  of  time  they  found'  that  it  was  not 
good  to  be  alone.  They  wanted  a  help  meet.  This 
uneasy  state  of  mind  was  the  germ  of  the  fall.  To  be 


200  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

alone  is  to  be  single-minded  with  God.  It  is  to  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  act  our  own  way.  It  is  to  be  one  in  heart 
and  mind,  and  one  with  the  Lord.  It  is  to  have  no  two 
sides  to  anything  ;  no  two  parties  :  but  to  all  yield, 
implicitly,  to  the  Lord's  will,  without  exercising  any 
independence  of  thought  and  feeling  contrary  to  the 
Lord's  will ;  or  following  any  new  inclinations  which 
they  might  sometimes  feel.  Thus  they  gradually  began 
to  get  tired  of  this  oneness  of  state,  and  to  want  variety; 
and  to  think  and  act  more  uncontrolled,  more  in  their 
own  way  ;  more  as  many,  than  as  one  alone.  They 
wanted  the  privilege  of  saying  either  yes  or  no.  This 
state  of  mind  is  what  is  meant  by  its  not  being  good 
for  man  to  be  alone.  It  was  good  :  but  it  had  ceased 
to  seem  good  to  them.  Therefore,  it  is  said  that,  "  the 
LORD  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and 
he  slept."  Adam,  here,  remember,  means  the  human 
race,  males  and  females  :  it  means  humanity,  as  it  then 
was,  upon  the  earth.  The  Lord  is  said  to  bring  upon 
mankind  this  deep  sleep,  because  He  is  said,  in  Scrip- 
ture, to  do  what  He  only  permits  to  be  done.  The 
human  race,  in  reasoning  from  their  own  wisdom  and 
exercising  their  own  proprium,  began  to  fall  into  a  state 
of  darkness  and  doubt  as  to  whether  their  wisdom  was 
all  from  the  Lord,  or  partly  from  themselves.  This 
darkness  and  doubt  is  the  deep  sleep.  They  were  no 
longer  awake  and  alive  to  their  own  duties.  Their  un- 
derstandings were  becoming  dark  and  their  affections 
cold.  The  understanding  is  the  male  element  of  the 
mind,  and  the  will,  or  heart,  is  the  female  element. 
Thus,  the  darkened  understanding  of  the  race  was  the 
Adam  that  was  asleep.  And  the  cold  indifferent  state 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS  201 

of  the  will  was  the  rib  that  was  taken  away.  This  was 
done  by  the  Lord  by  enabling  the  race  to  see  and  un- 
derstand that  men  had  a  selfhood  ;  and  that  they  were 
free  to  exercise  that  .selfhood  as  their  own,  and  there- 
fore to  be  no  longer  alone,  provided  they  would  ac- 
knowledge that  the  will,  the  understanding  and  the 
power  to  do  so  were  of  the  Lord.  This  was  a  new  truth 
that  they  had  not  before  seen  ;  and  it  produced  a  new 
state  of  mind,  giving  them  much  joy.  For  this  truth, 
in  the  understanding,  or  in  the  Adam  or  male  principle 
of  the  mind,  could  be  received  and  warmly  embraced  by 
the  affections  or  the  Eve  principle  of  the  mind.  Thus 
the  mind,  which  was  before  dark  and  cold,  was  now 
light  and  warm.  This  new  truth,  in  the  understand- 
ing, is  the  Lord,  the  Word  or  the  husband.  And  this 
new  affection  of  truth  in  the  will  is  the  church,  the 
bride.  And  this  union  of  good  in  the  will  with  the 
truth  in  the  understanding  is  always  used  as  the  sym- 
bol of  the  relation  between  husband  and  wife.  The 
race  received  this  new  state  of  the  affections,  the  Eve 
principle,  through  the  truth  in  the  understanding, 
which  showed  them  that  they  were  free  agents.  Thus 
these  affections,  or  Eve,  are  said  to  be  taken  out  of  man, 
because  they  were  received  through  the  truth,  in  the 
understanding — the  male  element  :  and  as  the  under- 
standing and  will  are  now  brought  together,  it  is  there- 
fore added  that  a  man  shall  leave  his  father  and  mother 
and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one 
flesh.  Thus  the  cold,  hard,  bony  state  of  the  race,  was 
taken  away  from  their  affections,  or  from  the  side  of 
man,  and  a  warm,  soft  state,  was  given  in  its  stead 

9* 


202  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

Sj 

Bones  are  often  spoken  of,  in  the  Word,  in  reference 
to  the  state  of  the  heart,  or  the  affections — the  pro- 
prium.  Thus,  the  Psalmist  says,  "  Make  me  to  have  joy 
and  gladness,  that  the  bones  which  thou  hast  broken 
may  rejoice."  Here  broken  bones  are  broken  affections, 
dejected  spirits,  or  subdued  selfhood.  Breaking  a  bone 
is  the  same  as  taking  out  a  rib,  or  destroying  the  love 
of  self.  Thus  it  is  written,  "  Hear,  0  Israel,  for  my 
bones  are  vexed  ;  all  my  bones  are  broken  ;  all  my 
bones  are  out  of  joint  ;  my  bones  are  consumed."  In 
all  these  places  the  self-love  or  selfhood  is  meant. 
Again,  "  All  my  bones  shall  say,  Lord,  who  is  like  unto 
Thee  ?" 

Now,  one  peculiar  point  of  interest,  in  this  subject, 
and  the  one  of  which  we  should  be  careful  not  to  lose 
sight,  is  the  human  selfhood  or  proprium.  This  self- 
hood is  the  mysterious  line  of  distinction  between  man 
and  his  God.  It  is  the  point  expressive  of  what  there 
is  of  man  specially  ;  and  of  what  the  two  different 
states  of  man's  proprium  are — the  state  in  order  and 
the  state  in  disorder  :  or  the  state  before  the  rib  is 
taken  away  and  that  afterward  :  for  man's  selfhood  is 
either  dead  or  alive.  It  is  dead  when  he  loves  self  for 
the  sake  of  self.  It  is  alive  when  he  loves  self  for 
the  sake  of  the  Lord ;  for  then  he  loves  his  neighbor  as 
himself.  He  loves  all  that  God  has  created,  himself 
among  the  rest,  as  the  creatures  of  God's  hands,  whom 
God  himself  loves,  and  whom  we  should  love  also  as 
God's  children. 

Now,  the  very  point  to  be  noted  is  this :  man  had 
begun  to  feel  some  little  regard  or  love  for  himself,  in 


SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS.  203 

contradistinction  to  his  love  for  the  Lord.  And  in  try- 
ing to  study  into  the  nature  and  quality  of  his  own 
selfhood  arid  exclusive  powers,  he  fell  into  that  state  of 
profound  darkness  and  doubt,  called  deep  sleep,  in 
which  most  men  are,  at  this  day,  upon  this  very  sub- 
ject of  human  selfhood.  Man,  then,  wanted  to  feel 
himself  to  be  something  distinct  from  his  God,  and  lo 
love  himself  in  this  distinction,  and  to  love  his  God 
also.  He  wanted  to  divide  his  affections  between  him- 
self and  his  God,  so  as  not  to  be  alone,  or  in  oneness 
in  the  action  of  those  affections.  So  the  Lord  pro- 
vided that  he  might  love  himself  or  his  own  selfhood, 
on  condition  that  he  would  remember  and  acknowledge 
that  all  that  there  was  which  was  good  in  that  selfhood, 
and  worthy  of  his  love,  was  of  the  Lord  alone. 

This  was  a  new  view  of  the  subject,  by  means  of 
new  light  ;  and  they  yielded  to  it.  Thus  the  human 
selfhood  was  vivified.  The  rib,  or  the  cold  and  dead 
idea  of  man's  own  goodness,  was  thereby  taken  away 
from  his  mind.  Man  now  saw  that  he  was  not  good 
in,  and  of,  himself ;  and  seeing  this,  and  looking  to  the 
Lord,  the  rib,  or  dead  selfhood,  was  removed,  and  God's 
supreme  goodness  was  acknowledged  and  took  its  place. 
Man  was  now  enabled  to  see  himself  as  finite  and  dis- 
tinct from  the  Lord,  and  also  to  love  himself  for  the 
goods  and  truths  which  were  in  him  from  the  Lord, 
and  not  for  his  own  wisdom  and  righteousness.  Man 
had  now,  what  we  call,  a  vivified,  living  or  spiritual 
selfhood.  This  was  called  flesh,  or  goodness,  in  the 
place  of  the  rib,  or  lifeless  and  cold  selfhood,  which  was 
taken  away.  This  vivified  selfhood  is  the  Eve,  the 


204  SECOND    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

Bride  or  the  Church,  in  our  will,  which  the  truth  in 
our  Adam,  or  our  understanding,  is  to  love  and  em- 
brace. And  it  is  said  of  them,  "  What  God  hath 
joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder/' 

And  here  we  have  the  true  scripture  symbol  of  the 
conjugial  relation  between  a  man  and  his  wife.  It  is 
the  same  as  the  relation  between  the  Lord  and  His 
Church  or  Truth  and  Good  :  or  between  love  in  1he 
proprium  of  man,  and  the  Lord,  as  the  Divine  truth, 
in  the  understanding.  The  world  is  now  in  great  dark- 
ness upon  this  very  subject — the  human  proprium.  It 
is,  indeed,  in  deep  sleep,  and  can  only  be  aroused  as  the 
Lord  takes  from  its  side  a  rib,  and  makes  thereof  a 
woman — a  good  affection — and  brings  it  to  the  dark- 
ened understanding,  and  they  embrace  each  other. 

And  this  cold,  dead  bone  is  being  taken  away,  and 
the  warm  living  flesh  given  in  its  place,  whenever  men 
faithfully  resist  temptations  and  keep  God's  laws,  as  of 
themselves,  with  the  acknowledgment  that  the  will,  the 
understanding,  and  the  power  to  do  so  are  of  the  Lord 
alone.  Thus  no  person  is  regenerated  without  God's 
taking  from  his  side,  or  from  his  affections,  the  cold 
rib  of  his  selfhood  and  putting  in  the  place  thereof, 
warm  and  generous  love  to  God  and  the  neighbor  ;  and 
thus  forming  a  union  of  goodness  and  truth  in  his  soul, 
whereby  goodness  in  his  heart  is  the  church  wedded  to 
the  Lord  as  the  Truth.  Thus,  as  in  all  sacred  scrip- 
ture, we  are  here  taught  the  way  of  salvation. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE    CORRESPONDENCE    OF    WATER. 

K  His  voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters."     (Rev.  i.  15.) 

WE  speak  this  evening  upon  the  spiritual  significa- 
tion of  water. 

Water  constitutes  one  of  the  leading  features  of  the 
Holy  Word.  This  is  because  it  denotes  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal elements  either  of  the  human  or  of  the  Divine 
Mind.  It  also  constitutes  one  of  the  leading  features 
and  principal  elements  of  the  natural  world.  It  sig- 
nifies truth.  And  as  water  is  essential  to  the  produc- 
tion and  growth  of  natural  things,  so  truth  is  essential 
to  the  production  and  growth  of  mental  things.  Water, 
therefore,  in  every  instance  in  which  it  is  mentioned  in 
the  Holy  Word,  signifies  either  truth  or  falsity.  And, 
by  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used,  it  is  at  once  known 
which  way  it  is  to  be  understood. 

Now,  because  it  signifies  truth,  it  is  used  as  an  in- 
troduction into  the  church,  by  baptism.  For  it  is  truth 
which  introduces  a  person  into  the  church.  Truths,  in 
the  mind,  show  us  our  evils,  and  teach  us  how  to  put 
them  away.  And,  as  we  repent  of  our  evils,  resist 


206  WATER. 

temptations  and  obey  the  Lord,  through  the  light  and 
power  of  the  truth,  we  are  cleansed  from  our  evils 
and  filled  with  goods  and  truths.  Baptism  by  water 
denotes  this  cleansing  by  the  truths.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
beautiful  and  appropriate  ordinance  of  the  church,  and 
stands  as  the  great  index,  pointing  the  way  to  heaven 
by  regeneration.  Water  performs  the  same  use  to  the 
body,  in  cleansing  it,  and  quenching  its  thirst,  and  in 
nourishing  and  sustaining  it,  as  the  truth  does  to  the 
soul  :  for  the  correspondence  is  perfect. 

The  very  first  expression  of  the  operation  of  God's 
Spirit,  in  the  Holy  Word,  is  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 
This  is  made  at  the  commencement  of  the  Divine  Word; 
or,  at  the  beginning  of  the  spiritual  creation  of  the  human 
mind.  "  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters."  The  face  denotes  the  affections  ;  and 
the  waters,  truths.  The  first  effort  of  the  Spirit,  after 
there  is  light,  is,  to  incline  us  to  have  an  affection  for 
that  light  or  truth. 

Again,  water  is  expressed,  as  being  connected,  not 
only  with  the  first  movings  of  the  Spirit  mentioned  in 
the  Holy  Word,  but  also  in  the  very  last  exhortation 
of  the  Lord  to  man,  in  this  divine  Book.  He  there 
says,  "  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely." 

And  not  only  in  the  first  and  the  last  parts,  is  water 
used,  but  also  throughout  the  whole  Word.  Wells, 
and  rivers,  and  streams,  and  rains,  and  seas,  and  floods 
are,  all  the  way,  brought  to  notice.  One  who  has  never 


WATER.  207 

examined  the  Divine  Word  as  to  the  use  made  of  wells 
of  water  ;  the  finding,  digging,  moving,  and  destroying 
of  wells,  as  a  means  of  spiritual  instruction,  would  be 
forcibly  struck  with  a  view  of  that  feature  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures. 

In  2  Kings  we  read  that  the  Moabites  cast  stones 
on  all  the  good  ground,  stopped  all  the  wells,  and 
felled  all  the  good  trees.  Now,  if  we  turn  our  thoughts 
from  natural  things  to  spiritual,  and  lay  the  scene  in 
our  own  mind,  we  shall  see  at  a  glance,  by  correspon- 
dence, that  the  Moabites  are  evil  principles  or  spirits  ; 
that  the  stones  they  cast  on  all  the  good  ground  are 
hard  falsities  cast  on  the  ground  of  the  mind  ;  that  the 
wells,  stopped,  are  the  sources  of  truth  from  the  Word 
hidden  from  the  mind  ;  and  that  the  good  trees,  felled, 
are  all  the  noble  and  lofty  principles  of  the  soul  de- 
stroyed. What  an  impressive  lesson  the  Lord  here 
teaches  us  !  That  evils,  indulged,  will  fill  our  hearts 
•with  falsities,  close  them  against  the  truths  of  the 
Word,  and  destroy  the  highest  and  best  principles  of 
the  soul. 

Again,  it  is  recorded  in  Genesis,  that  Hagar  was  sent 
away  from  Abraham's  house  with  her  child  ;  that  she 
left  the  lad  under  a  shrub  to  die  for  the  want  of 
water,  and  sat  down  to  weep  ;  and  that  God  opened 
her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a  well  of  water,  and  she  gave  the 
lad  to  drink.  Now,  what  .eyes  did  the  Lord  open  ? 
Was  it  only  the  natural  eyes  ?  Hagar  was  not  blind 
in  those  eyes.  Let  us  then  look  into  our  own  minds  for 
the  illustration  :  for  the  Lord  would  teach  us  spiritual 
things.  The  instruction  is  given  expressly  for  the  present 


208  WATER. 

age.  Hagar  denotes  the  female  element  of  the  mind 
or  our  affections,  and  the  child,  a  hew  principle  or  rule 
of  life  from  the  Lord,  which  our  affections  love  ;  and 
Abraham  represents  the  Lord.  And  now,  if  we  let 
these  affections  go  away  from  Abraham's,  or  the  heavenly 
Father's,  house  with  the  child  or  new  principle,  and  not 
continue  to  look  to  the  Lord  for  wisdom  to  feed  it,  the 
child  will  surely  die  of  thirst,  or  for  the  want  of  the 
water  of  life.  But  if,  in  our  wanderings,  we  feel  its 
need  of  truths,  and  fear  its  death,  and  set  ourselves 
down  to  weep  and  repent  of  our  waywardness,  the  Lord 
will  open  our  understandings  to  the  divine  truth,  and 
we  shall  see  a  well  of  water  springing  up  from  the  Holy 
Word,  and  we  shall  give  the  child  to  drink. 

Again,  between  Abraham  and  Abimelech,  king  of 
Gerar,  there  was  a  falling  out  ;  because  Abraham  had 
digged  a  well,  and  Abimelech's  servants  had  taken  it 
away  ;  that  is,  had  taken  the  credit  of  digging  it.  And 
Abraham  and  Abimelech  entered  into  a  covenant, 
which  was  this  :  Abraham  took  seven  ewe  lambs  and 
said  to  Abimelech,  "  These  ewe  lambs  shalt  thou  take, 
that  they  may  be  witness  unto  me,  that  I  have  digged 
this  well."  Now,  what  can  this  mean  ?  Why  has  our 
heavenly  Father  recorded  such  a  narrative  ?  And  why 
is  he  now  giving  it  to  all  the  world  in  all  languages  ? 
It  must  be  because  it  contains  food  for  the  souls  of 
men.  And  if  we  know  that  the  things  here  mentioned 
denote  things  of  the  mind,  and  will  look  within  our- 
selves for  them,  we  shall  then  see  their  use  and  their 
beauty.  Abraham,  who  is  often  called  father  Abraham, 
represents  the  Lord  as  Divine  G-ood.  He  denotes  a 


WATER.  209 

principle  of  love  and  mercy  in  our  hearts.  While 
Abimelech,  king  of  Gerar,  signifies  something  of  the 
head — the  doctrines  of  faith  :  Kings  always  relate  to 
truths. 

Now,  the  Bible  talks  about  wells  of  water  springing 
up,  in  the  human  soul,  unto  everlasting  life.  Such 
wells  are  always  digged  by  repentance,  faith,  and  obe- 
dience. But  in  order  to  have  this  repentance,  faith 
and  obedience  genuine,  so  as  to  produce  the  well  of 
living  water,  father  Abraham  must  be  there — love  to 
God  and  the  neighbor  must  be  in  the  work  as  its  mo- 
tive power  or  spring  of  action.  Abraham,  the  heavenly 
father  principle,  or  Divine  Good,  digs  the  well,  through 
the  use  of  the  other  principles  as  means  of  operation. 
But  after  the  well  has  been  digged,  and  we  are  enjoy- 
ing and  giving  forth  its  precious  waters,  we  may  care- 
lessly fall  into  a  cold  and  dark  state  of  mind.  And 
then,  while  we  are  reasoning  upon  the  subject  in  the 
selfish  light  of  our  own  intelligence,  we  may  come  to  the 
false  conclusion  that  it  was  by  the  scientific  principles 
of  our  own  judgment  and  faith,  that  the  well  was 
digged  ;  that  it  was  Abimelech's  servants,  or  the  sub- 
jects of  our  faith,  that  digged  the  well,  or  gave  us  the 
truths  and  doctrines.  Thus  the  merit  is  all  taken  away 
from  Abraham,  or  from  the  mercy  and  goodness  of  God  ; 
and  we  are  falling  into  a  dead  state  of  mind  ;  giving 
up  the  true  religion  of  the  heart,  and  resting  in  the 
coldness  of  the  head  alone.  Our  heavenly  Father  sees 
where  we  are  going,  and  arouses  us  to  a  state  of  our 
condition  and  danger.  He  calls  a  meeting  of  Abraham 
and  Abimelech,  or  of  the  heart  and  the  head,  that  we 


210  WATER. 

may  reflect,  and  understand  where  the  truths,  or  waters, 
and  doctrines  of  our  souls  come  from  :  whether  from 
wisdom  or  from  love.  And,  in  this  examination,  he 
enables  us  to  see  that  it  is  goodness  that  gives  forth  the 
truth  ;  that  Abraham  digs  the  well.  And  now  he  in- 
stitutes a  covenant  between  Abraham  and  Abimelech, 
or  between  goodness  and  truth  in  us  ;  or  between  our 
understanding  and  our  will.  In  this  covenant,  Abra- 
ham gives  to  Abimelech  seven  ewe  lambs  to  be  kept  as 
a  witness  that  Abraham  digged  the  well,  or  that  good- 
ness brings  forth  the  truth. 

Now,  why  should  seven  ewe  lambs  be  given  as  this 
witness  ?  How  could  they  be  a  witness  that  Abraham 
digged  a  natural  well  ?  It  is  because  ewe  lambs  de- 
note innocence  of  the  affections,  and  seven  denotes  pu- 
rity or  holiness.  Therefore,  for  Abimelech  to  receive 
from  Abraham  seven  ewe  lambs,  is,  spiritually  speaking, 
for  the  understanding  to  become  convinced,  by  the 
truth,  that  the  Divine  Good  or  Father  principle  is  in- 
nocent and  holy,  and  that  this  Divine  Good  actually 
brings  forth,  in  us,  the  truth  of  the  Word,  or  digs  the 
well.  Thus  Abraham,  or  the  goodness  of  God  in  the 
will,  is  to  give  to  Abimelech,  or  faith  in  the  under- 
standing, a  belief  in  innocence  and  purity :  this  belief 
will  cause  a  union  or  covenant  between  goodness  and 
truth  in  our  souls.  And  we  can  readily  see  that  so  long 
as  Abimelech,  or  our  faith  of  the  head,  understands  that 
all  purity  and  innocence  are  from  Abraham,  or  the 
Heavenly  Father's  goodness,  we  shall  of  course  believe 
that  all  truths  and  doctrines  which  cleanse  the  soul, 
and  bring  purity  and  innocence,  must  also  flow  from 


WATER.  211 

God's  goodness  and  mercy — that  Abraham  truly  digs 
the  well,  or  supplies  the  water. 

Again,  the  Lord  commanded  Moses  to  gather  the 
people  together  at  the  well  Beer  ;  and  the  LORD  God 
gave  them  water.  Then  Israel  sang  this  song,  "  Spring 
up,  0  well,  answer  ye  out  of  it  ;  the  well,  the  princes 
digged  it,  the  nobles  of  the  people  digged  it,  by  the  di- 
rection of  the  Lawgiver,  with  their  staves."  Now,  in 
the  letter  alone,  we  here  see  nothing  practical.  It  is 
the  same  to  us  as  any  other  history  of  past  events.  But 
if  we  know  that  Moses  means  the  Divine  Law,  and  the 
well  Beer  means  true  doctrines,  we  can  see  that  the 
Lord  is  now  commanding  us,  by  Moses,  to  gather  our- 
selves together,  at  the  well  Beer  ;  or  to  come  to  the  in- 
finite Well,  the  great  fountain  of  the  heavenly  doctrines; 
and  the  Lord  will  there  give  us  water,  and  we  shall 
sing,  with  Israel,  Spring  up,  0  well,  in  our  souls  ;  and 
we  shall  joyfully  answer  each  other  out  of  this  well, 
speaking  the  truth  from  the  heart.  And  if  we  further 
know  that  princes  mean  high  and  noble  principles  of 
the  mind,  and  staves,  the  power  of  truth  from  good- 
ness, we,  too,  shall  rejoice  that  the  princes  digged  the 
well  in  our  souls  with  their  staves.  For  we  shall  see 
that  it  was  by  the  great  truths  of  the  Word,  through 
the  power  of  the  Lord  from  goodness,  that  our  hearts 
became  contrite  by  repentance,  and  the  well  of  salva- 
tion was  opened  in  our  soul.  And  then,  if  we  look  a 
little  deeper  into  the  subject,  we  shall  see,  at  the  start- 
ing point,  that  it  is  the  Father's  love,  through  the 
princes  and  the  staves,  that  does  the  work.  Abraham 
really  digs  the  well.  And  we  give  to  God  the  glory. 


212  WATER. 

Again,  it  is  declared,  in  the  Word,  that  the  Philis- 
tines stopped  up  all  the  wells  which  Abraham's  ser- 
vants digged.  Now,  as  Abraham  denotes  goodness,  so 
Abraham's  servants  are  those  obedient  affections  of  the 
soul  which  love  goodness,  and  love  to  obey  its  dictates. 
Through  the  exercise  of  these  affections  the  Lord  opens 
in  our  hearts  the  wellsprings  of  life.  Philistines  de- 
note false  principles  of  the  mind  which  reason  against 
acts  of  charity  and  good  works  as  essential  to  .salva- 
tion ;  which  place  the  entire  conditions  of  pardon  and 
heavenly  bliss  in  external  wisdom,  in  faith  in  Grod,  in 
worldly  science  and  knowledge.  Wells  of  salvation  are 
doctrines  and  truths  flowing  from  the  heart.  When 
we  love  the  truths  of  the  Word  they  become  our  own  ; 
and  they  are  a  fountain  flowing  out  from  the  heart  in 
words  of  wisdom  and  acts  of  kindness.  But  if  we  yield 
to  the  selfish  falsities  of  the  Philistine  principles,  and 
rely  upon  our  own  faith  and  knowledge,  regardless  of 
the  duties  of  charity,  these  Philistines  will  surely  stop 
up  the  wells  of  the  soul  which  Abraham's  servants  have 
digged.  Every  good  affection  and  kind  desire  will  be- 
come blunted  and  the  streams  of  mercy  and  truth  will 
cease  to  flow. 

But  it  is  recorded  that  Isaac  digged  again  the  wells 
which  they  had  digged  in  the  days  of  Abraham  his 
father  :  for  the  Philistines  had  stopped  them  after  tho 
death  of  Abraham.  Here  we  are  taught  that  Abra- 
ham, or  the  good  principles  of  the  soul,  die  as  they 
cease  to  send  forth  their  streams  of  truth  and  love,  or 
as  the  Philistines  or  false  principles,  in  us,  become  pre- 
dominant and  stop  the  wells  :  but  that,  even  then 


WATER.  213 

they  can  be  opened  again.  Isaac  can  open  them.  "  Isaac 
digged  again  the  wells  which  the  Philistines  had  stop- 
ped." Isaac  here  signifies  spiritual  love  ;  or  love  to  the 
Lord,  by  means  of  the  spiritual  truths  of  the  Word  : 
and  how  many  wells,  of  doctrine  and  truth,  are  now 
being  opened  by  the  love  which  men  feel  for  the  Lord, 
through  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word.  This  love  is 
the  Isaac  of  the  soul,  the  son  of  Abraham  or  of  goodness. 
And  if  we  yield  to  the  spiritual  truths  of  the  Word,  in 
humble  obedience,  Isaac  will  open,  afresh,  the  well- 
springs  of  life  ;  and  we  shall  heartily  bless  the  Lord  at 
this  His  second  coming,  by  a  life  of  mercy  and  truth. 

It  is  recorded  that  Isaac's  servants  digged,  even  in 
the  valley,  and  found  a  well.  Here  we  are  taught  the 
comforting  truth,  that,  even  in  the  low,  selfish  hearts 
or  states  of  men  denoted  by  a  valley,  when  the  spir- 
itual sense  of  the  Word  comes,  convincing  the  natural 
understanding  of  its  truth,  Isaac's  servants,  or  the  af- 
fections we  form  for  that  truth,  by  obedience,  will  open 
in  our  hearts  a  desire  to  speak  the  truth,  and  to  love 
and  do  it,  jrhich  is  a  well.  Thus  the  low,  selfish  val- 
ky  will  become  humble  and  meek,  when  Isaac's  ser- 
vants dig  the  well  ;  and  the  water  will  flow. 

A^ain,  it  is  written  that  Moses  came  to  Elim  where 

O  J 

were  twelve  wells  and  seventy  palm-trees.  In  the  lit- 
eral sense,  we  see  no  essential  use  to  men's  souls,  by  this 
record.  But  the  spiritual  sense  is  highly  beautiful  and 
instructive.  The  number  12  is  the  multiple  of  3. 
Three  includes  everything  spiritual — love,  wisdom  and 
power.  12  wells  signify  all  the  doctrines  and  truths  of 
the  Word.  For  this  reason  there  were  twelve  apos- 


214  WATER. 

ties,  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  twelve  foundations  of  the 
Temple,  twelve  stones  in  Aaron's  breastplate,  twelve 
gates,  and  twelve  angels.  Palrn- trees  denote  the  spir- 
itual goods  of  the  Word.  70  is  the  common  multiple 
of  7  and  10.  Ten  denotes  all  we  have.  It  is  the  ter- 
mination of  the  man.  He  has  ten  fingers  and  ten  toes. 
We  count  by  tens.  Seven  is  a  holy  number,  denoting 
purity,  fulness  and  rest.  The  seventh  day  signifies 
a  state  of  holiness  and  rest.  Seventy  palm-trees,  there- 
fore, denote  the  holiness  and  fulness  of  the  spiritual 
goods  of  the  Word.  Places  in  the  Word,  always  de- 
note states  of  the  mind.  Elim  denotes  a  state  of  mind 
in  the  illustration  and  affection  of  the  Word. 

Now,  with  these  significations,  we  may  learn  a  heav- 
enly lesson,  by  Moses  coming  to  Elim,  where  were 
twelve  wells  and  seventy  palm-trees.  As  all  places  de- 
note states  of  mind,  so  going  to  a  place  always  means 
coming  into  a  certain  state  of  mind.  Moses  means  the 
Divine  Law — the  truths  of  the  commandments.  We 
are  therefore  taught  by  this  scripture,  that  the  Divine 
Law  can  so  come  into  the  soul  as  to  fill  it  with  the  il- 
lustration, the  love,  and  the  enjoyment  of  all  goods  and 
truths.  And  the  practical  instruction  is  this  : — If  we 
faithfully  and  affectionately  keep  the  divine  command- 
ments, Moses,  or  the  law  of  truth  and  love,  will  come 
into  the  Elim,  or  the  rational  plane  of  our  mind,  and 
will  fill  it  with  illustration  and  affection  for  seeing  and 
enjoying  the  twelve  wells  and  seventy  palm-trees  of  the 
Holy  Word  ;  or,  all  the  goods  and  truths  which  the 
soul  needs  or  can  desire. 

Now,  we  find,  in  reading  the  divine  narrative,  that 


WATEB.  215 

there  was  a  great  deal  of  strife  and  contention  among 
men  about  wells.  Now,  why  should  so  much  be  said 
about  wells  ?  How  different  is  God's  history  from 
man's  !  In  God's  book,  wells  are  a  leading  feature  :  in 
man's  they  are  never  noticed.  You  may  read  a  whole 
history  of  a  man  or  a  country  now,  and  not  find  a  well 
mentioned.  It  is  because  wells  mean  the  doctrines  and 
truths  of  the  Word,  that  they  are  so  often  mentioned. 
It  is  about  truths  and  doctrines,  therefore,  and  not 
wells,  that  the  Lord  would  teach  us  by  these  Scrip- 
tures. 

Now,  Isaiah  tells  us  what  the  true  wells  of  the  Holy 
"Word  are  when  he  says,  "  With  joy  shall  they  draw 
water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation."  These  wells  are 
hearts  which  love  truth,  and  love  to  speak  it.  The 
wise  man  Solomon  says,  "  The  words  of  man's  mouth 
are  deep  waters" — that  "  the  wellspring  of  wisdom  is  a 
flowing  brook."  Peter,  speaking  of  persons  who  had 
forsaken  the  right  way,  says,  They  are  wells  without 
water.  That  is,  minds  without  truth. 

Rivers  also  hold  a  prominent  position  in  the  Holy 
Word.  David  says  of  the  good,  "  They  shall  drink  of 
the  river  of  thy  pleasure."  He  says,  "  There  is  a  river, 
the  streams  whereof  shall  make  glad  the  city  of  our 
God."  That  is,  the  truths  of  the  Word  shall  make  the 
heart  glad  in  the  heavenly  doctrines — the  Holy  City. 
Again,  he  says,  "  The  Lord  enricheth  the  earth  with 
the  river  of  God."  That  is,  filleth  the  mental  earth 
with  the  truths  of  the  Word. 

The  Lord  sh'owed  John  a  pure  river  of  water  of 


216  WATER. 

life  ;  which,  was  spiritual  truth  flowing  from  God's 
love. 

Moses  smote  all  the  rivers  of  Egypt,  and  they  be- 
came blood.  All  the  rivers,  ponds  and  pools,  and  all 
the  waters  in  vessels — all  the  water  in  Egypt  became 
blood  !  Does  any  one  suppose  that  this  was  a  literal 
fact  ?  What  certain  death  it  would  have  been  to 
Moses  and  all  the  people  to  be  destitute  of  water.  And 
how  could  Moses  turn  all  the  water  into  blood  ?  But 
in  the  light  of  correspondences  all  is  clear.  Moses 
stands  for  the  divine  Law  which  he  proclaimed.  Blood, 
which  is  called  the  life  of  the  body,  denotes,  in  a  good 
sense,  the  true  life  of  the  soul,  or  spiritual  truth.  But, 
in  a  bad  sense,  blood  denotes  evil  life,  or  falsity,  which 
is  the  death  of  the  soul.  Egypt  here  means  the  natural 
mind  ;  and  its  rivers  and  waters,  the  falsities  of  that 
mind. 

Now  when  the  truth  of  the  Law  falls  with  power 
upon  these  falsities,  they  are  as  blood.  That  is,  when 
the  light  of  the  divine  commandments  shines  clearly 
into  the  depraved  natural  mind,  its  falsities  are  seen  to 
be  carnal  life — dead  blood.  And  thus  it' is  that  when 
Moses  smites  the  waters  of  Egypt  they  become  blood. 

Again,  it  is  said  of  the  Lord,  "  He  turneth  rivers  into 
a  wilderness."  Now  falsities,  which  rivers  here  denote, 
will  make  a  wilderness  of  the  mind.  And  God  is  said  to 
turn  them  into  a  wilderness  when,  by  the  light  of  truth, 
He  enables  us  to  see  the  wilderness  state  of  mind  which 
they  have  produced. 

The  Lord  says,  in  Isaiah,  "  A  man  shall  be  as  rivers 
of  water  in  a  dry  place."  A  true  man  is  in  the  image 


WATER.  217 

and  likeness  of  his  God  :  and  the  truth  will  go  forth 
from  him  to  refresh  the  thirsty  minds  around  him,  like 
rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place. 

Again,  it  is  said,  through  Isaiah,  "  The  glorious 
LORD  will  be  unto  us  a  place  of  broad  rivers  and 
streams  ;  for  the  LORD  is  our  Lawgiver."  Yes,  be- 
cause He  is  our  Lawgiver  He  will,  when  we  admit  Him 
into  our  hearts,  become  in  us  a  place  of  broad  rivers 
and  streams.  For  His  law  will  be  there,  sending  forth 
its  streams  of  truth  to  the  world  around  us. 

The  Lord  says,  through  Ezekiel,  He  will  bring  a 
sword  upon  the  rivers  and  destroy  their  high  places. 
Here  the  sword  is  the  divine  truth.  The  Lord  brings 
it  upon  the  rivers  of  falsehood  :  and  He  destroys  there- 
by the  high  places  in  our  mind  ;  or  our  love  of  falsities. 

The  Lord  again  says,  in  Ezekiel,  He  is  against  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  against  her  rivers.  By  the  land 
of  Egypt  is  here  meant  the  evils  of  the  external  man  ; 
and,  by  her  rivers,  his  falsities.  And  the  Lord  is  always 
against  evils  and  falsities. 

In  Ezekiel,  the  Lord  says  of  Pharoah,  "  Thou  earnest 
forth  with  thy  rivers,  and  troublest  the  waters  with  thy 
feet,  and  fouledst  their  rivers."  Pharaoh  had  become 
a  bad  man.  His  rivers  of  knowledge  had  become  fouled 
with  falsities.  His  feet,  or  lowest  natural  principles, 
troubled  the  waters  of  truth.  It  is  said  that  the  deep 
set  him  up  on  high  with  her  rivers.  That  is,  he  was 
proud  of  his  knowledge. 

In  Joel,  it  is  said,  "  The  beasts  of  the  field  cry  unto 
the  Lord,  for  the  rivers  of  water  are  dried  up.  What 
do  the  beasts  of  the  field  know  of  the  Lord  ?  It  is  the 

10 


218  WATEK. 

affections  of  men  mourning  over  the  want  of  truth  in 
the  world.     And  well  they  may  mourn,  for  how  sadly 
are  the  rivers  of  water  dried  up  in  the  hearts  of  men  ! 
Again,  it  is  written  in  Joel,  that  the  rivers  of  Judah 

O  7  * 

shall  flow  with  waters,  and  a  fountain  shall  come  forth 
of  the  house  of  the  Lord  :  where  J.udah  means  the 
church,  and  her  rivers,  the  truths  of  the  Word. 

Again,  "The  Lord  rebuketh  the  sea,  and  maketh  it 
dry,  and  dryeth  up  the  rivers."  This,  we  all  know,  the 
Lord  does  not  do,  naturally.  But  He  does  rebuke  and 
make  dry  the  sea  of  men's  false  knowledge,  and  dries 
up  the  rivers  of  their  deceit,  whenever  they  yield  to 
His  spirit. 

Now,  in  the  passages  I  have  cited  from  the  Word, 
the  necessity  of  a  spiritual  sense  is  readily  seen.  And 
so  in  those  I  am  about  to  quote,  and  which  I  have  not 
time  to  explain,  you  will  see  that  there  must  be  a  spir- 
itual sense  :  and  many  of  you  will  understand  it. 

"  When  the  poor  and  needy  seek  water,  and  there  is 
none,  I  the  LOKD  will  hear  them  :  I  will  open  rivers  in 
high  places,  and  fountains  in  the  midst  of  the  valleys  : 
I  will  make  the  wilderness  a  pool  of  water,  and  the  dry 
land  springs  of  water."  Again,  "  I  will  pour  water 
upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the  dry 
ground  :  I  will  pour  my  spirit  upon  thy  seed,  and  my 
blessing  upon  thine  offspring."  The  Lord  says  of  the 
church,  "  I  entered  into  covenant  with  thee,  and  thou 
becamest  mine,  and  I  washed  thee  with  water,  and 
anointed  thee  with  oil" — or  cleansed  thee  with  truth, 
and  filled  thee  with  love. 

Again,  He  says  of  the  church,  "  I  will  sprinkle  clean 


WATER.  219 

water  upon  thee,  and  thou  shall  be  clean  from  all  thine 
idols."  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
"  The  serpent  cast  out  of  his  mouth  water  as  a  flood 
after  the  woman." 

That  waters  sometimes  mean  falses,  we  might  know 
from  what  David  says,  when  he  prays,  "  Send  thine 
hand  from  above  ;  rid  me,  and  deliver  mo  out  of  great 
waters,  from  the  hand  of  strange  children,  whose  mouth 
speaketh  vanity,  and  their  right  hand  is  a  right  hand 
of  falsehood."  Thus  David  says,  "  Save  me,  0  Lord, 
for  the  waters  have  come  into  my  soul.  I  am  come 
into  deep  waters  where  floods  overflow  me.  Let  not 
the  floods  overflow  me,  neither  let  the  deep  swallow  me 
up."  Isaiah  says,  "  I  have  digged  and  drunk  water  ; 
and  with  the  sole  of  my  feet  have  I  dried  up  all  the 
rivers  of  besieged  places. 

But  we  need  not  pursue  the  investigation  further. 
It  must  be  obvious  to  all  that  there  is  a  spiritual  sig- 
nification to  water.  And  that  when  used  in  a  good 
sense  it  means  truth  ;  and  in  a  bad  sense  falsity.  We 
have  mentioned  but  few  of  the  many  passages  where 
water  is  used. 

There  .is  much  said,  in  the  Word,  of  the  sea,  which 
means  general  knowledge  stored  up  in  the  memory.  It 
may  be  true,  or  false,  or  mixed.  In  Jeremiah,  the 
Lord  says  of  the  church,  "  I  will  dry  up  her  sea." 
X(.iw,  what  can  the  sea  of  the  church  be,  which  the 
Lord  can  wish  to  dry  up,  but  her  false  knowledge  ? 
John  says  of  the  coming  of  the  New  J  eiusalem,  "And 
I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  :  for  the  first 


220  WATER. 

heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away ;  and  there 
was  no  more  sea."  All  the  false  doctrines  and  knowl- 
edges of  the  natural  man,  which  form  the  sea  of  the 
external  maimry,  are  driven  away  when  the  spiritual 
light  of  the  Word  enters,  creating  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth.  The  knowledge  now  is  spiritual.  The  true 
water  is  made  wine — the  sea  is  gone.  The  Lord  says, 
in  Mark,  "  Ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  prose- 
lyte. Here  it  is  obvious  that  by  sea  and  land  is  meant 
the  whole  mind  of  man — knowledge  and  will. 

How  beautifully  true  and  expressive,  then,  is  our 
text!  "His  voice  as  the  sound  ofHsiany  waters." 
His  voice  is  divine  truth  ;  all  truths,  everywhere, 
spiritual  and  natural :  the  truths  of  His  Word  :  the 
truths  of  His  works  :  truths  of  infinite  varieties.  He 
speaks  in  everything.  His  voice  is  everywhere.  Every 
truth  spoken  by  man  is  God's  voice.  Think  of  tho 
universal  speech  of  God,  wherever  the  truth  is  uttered, 
throughout  the  vast  universe,  in  all  its  infinite  varie- 
ties ;  it  is  God's  voice.  Indeed,  His  voice  is  as  the 
sound  of  many  waters.  May  we  all  learn  to  hear  this 
voice,  so  that  we  can  feel  the  precious  presence  of  our 
heavenly  Father,  wherever  we  are  :  in  city  or  country  : 
in  mountain  or  valley :  in  sunshine  or  storm  :  on  sea 
or  land  —  whether  contemplating  His  Word  or  His 
Works  ;  may  the  still  small  voice  of  His  Holy  Spirit 
have  our  first  affections  and  thoughts,  now  and  forever ; 
for  "  His  voice  [is]  as  the  sound  of  many  waters/' 
"  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely," 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

THE    MOSAIC    DELUGE. 

"  And  lie  sent  forth  a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the  waters  were 
abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground  ;  but  the  dove  found  no 
rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she  returned  unto  him  into  the 
ark,  for  the  waters  were  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth."  (Gen. 
Yiii.  8,  9.) 


have  seen,  by  our  lectures,  that  man  was  the 
crowning  object  of  the  creation,  being  the  connecting 
link  between  the  earth  and  the  Creator  ;  and  contain- 
ing within  him  the  sum  total  of  the  various  qualities 
of  the  living  things  of  the  earth  —  they  being,  individ- 
ually, but  component  parts  of  their  common  lord  and 
sovereign  —  the  human  race.  We  have  also  seen  that 
man  is  really  and  truly  man  only  by  means  of  the 
church  within  him  ;  or,  in  other  words,  by  means  of 
the  order  and  harmony  of  the  various  parts  and  princi- 
ples of  his  nature. 

From  these  facts,  we  have  seen  that  the  creation  of 
man,  as  a  spiritual  being,  is  described  in  allegory,  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  by  a  composed  history  of 
the  supposed  creation  of  the  world,  including  the  ani- 
mals and  birds,  and  other  living  things.  And  so;  by 


222  THE   DELUGE. 

the  same  law  of  analogy,  the  destruction  of  man,  as  a 
spiritual  being,  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  his  God, 
may  be  analogically  described  by  a  composed  history  of 
the  supposed  destruction  of  these  living  things  by  a 
flood.  And,  again,  the  reestablishment  of  this  order 
and  life  may  also  be  described  by  a  composed  narrative 
of  supposed  events,  in  which  the  living  creatures  of  the 
earth  are  represented  as  brought  together  into  an  ark, 
and  there  fed  and  protected  against  destruction  by  a 
flood.  And  by  thus  looking  at  this  history  of  the 
deluge,  in  the  light  of  correspondence,  as  applied  to  the 
human  mind  and  its  principles,  all  is  rational,  beauti- 
ful and  instructive. 

But  in  trying  to  view  it,  literally,  as  a  natural  his- 
tory, it  is  strange,  incomprehensible  and  at  variance 
with  the  natural  laws.  It  is  incomprehensible  because 
it  appears  contradictory,  unreasonable  and  inexplicable 
in  itself.  In  the  first  place  it  declares  that  it  rained 
"  40  days  and  40  nights,"  and  that  the  "  flood  was  40 
days  upon  the  earth  ;"  which  is  a  plain  indication  that 
the  deluge  then  ceased  to  prevail.  It  next  avers  that 
the  waters  continued  to  rise  for  150  days,  which  is  110 
days  after  it  had  done  raining,  and  longer  than  it  is 
affirmed  that  the  flood  was  upon  the  earth.  We  are 
next  told,  that,  at  the  end  of  150  days,  the  ark  rested 
on  Ararat.  This  resting  of  the  ark,  being  just  at  the 
time  when  the  water  had  done  rising,  would  show  that 
the  water  rose  just  high  enough  to  set  the  ark  upon  the 
mountain  and  no  more.  And,  from  this  time,  we  are 
told  that  the  waters  returned  from  off  the  earth  con- 
tinually ;  and  yet,  that  it  was  not  until  73  days  after 


THE    DELUGE.  223 

the  ark  had  rested,  that  the  tops  of  the  mountains  -were 
seen.  This  would  not  only  make  Ararat  the  highest 
mountain  of  the  earth,  but  even  so  much  higher  than 
the  rest  that  the  waters  had  to  fall  continually  for  73 
days  in  order  to  bring  other  mountains  in  sight.  We 
are  next  told  that  on  the  fortieth  day,  after  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  were  seen,  Noah  sent  forth  a  dove  to  see 
if  the  waters  had  abated.  This  is  certainly  a  very 
singular  step  for  Noah  to  take  at  this  time.  Had  he 
forgotten  that  the  ark  had  been  resting  on  dry  land  for 
months,  and  that  the  mountains  had  been  in  sight  for 
forty  days  ?  But,  what  is  more  remarkable  still,  "  The 
dove  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  for  the  waters 
were  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth." 

These  are  strange  discrepancies.  By  the  literal  sense 
alone  they  cannot  be  reconciled.  Nobody  has  success- 
fully attempted  it.  The  commentators  wisely  pass  them 
by  in  silence. 

So  it  appears  from  the  letter,  that  Noah  and  his 
family,  with  this  mass  of  living  creatures,  were  confined 
in  this  ark  for  one  year  and  ten  days.  Here  they  were 
in  this  water-tight  vessel  with  only  one  window,  which 
was  but  eighteen  inches  square,  and  that  in  the  top  of 
the  ark — a  vessel  three  stories  high,  pitched  within  and 
without  with  pitch,  with  only  one  door  and  that  closed 
by  the  Lord.  There  is  no  possible  way  to  account  for 
their  existence  but  by  one  continued  and  unaccountable 
miracle.  Such  a  miracle  would  be  different  from  all 
others  in  the  Word  ;  for  it  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
life  and  of  order.  Such  a  miracle  God  never  performs  : 
for  miracles,  when  seen  by  correspondence,  are  found  to 


224  THE    DELUGE. 

* 

be  facilities  of  life  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  the  divine 
laws. 

And,  by  what  known  law  could  these  creatures  have 
been  put  into  the  ark  from  all  the  climates  and  coun- 
'  tries  of  the  world  :  some  of  them  12,000  miles  off,  hav- 
ing to  pass  over  oceans,  mountains  and  rivers  ?  I  know 
it  is  said  that  God  could  speak  the  word  and  they 
would  be  there.  But  we  should  remember  that  God 
works  by  means.  Why  does  he  not  speak  the  word 
and  make  all  people  good  and  happy  ?  For  "  He 
would  have  all  men  to  be  saved." 

The  narrative  says,  "Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the 
waters  prevail,  and  the  mountains  were  covered."  If 
this  is  all  that  the  waters  rose,  the  mountains  were  very 
low  in  those  days.  But  the  previous  verse  speaks  of 
the  hills  being  covered  :  and  if  this  verse  means  that 
the  waters  rose  fifteen  cubits  above  the  tops  of  the  hills, 
and  the  mountains  were  covered,  then  the  difference  be- 
tween the  height  of  a  mountain  and  that  of  a  hill  is 
only  22^-  feet.  But  it  is  not  to  show  discrepancies  in 
the  letter  that  we  would  address  you.  The  letter  is  all 
precisely  right  ;  all  in  divine  order  ;  there  are  no  con- 
tradictions there,  when  understood.  We  mention  these 
things  to  turn  your  thoughts  to  something  higher,  and 
to  assure  you  that  he  who  puts  his  trust  in  the  living 
God,  may  have  his  soul  rejoiced  and  strengthened  by 
coming  to  the  spiritual  sense  ;  where  he  will  see  the 
Holy  Word  rising  above  the  cavils  of  the  skeptic  and 
the  shafts  of  infidelity  ;  and  commending  itself,  in 
every  page  and  verse,  to  the  sober  reason  with  which 
the  wisdom  of  his  God  has  endowed  him. 


THE    DELUGE.  225 

Let  us  then,  come  to  that  spiritual  sense  and  see 
what  our  heavenly  Father  has  for  us  in  this  wonderful 
history  :  for  it  is  the  human  mind  that  is  treated  of. 
By  the  flood  is  meant  falsehoods  inundating  the  mental 
earth,  and  destroying  its  goods  and  truths  ;  hy  the  ark 
is  meant,  the  true  doctrines  and  rules  of  life  from  the 
Holy  Word ;  by  the  animals,  birds  and  other  living 
creatures  brought  into  the  ark  are  meant  the  various 
affections,  thoughts  and  propensities  of  the  mind, 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Word.  Thus  we  may  see,  by  this  history,  how  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  may  be  destroyed  in  man,  by  in- 
dulging in  falsities,  until  every  living  creature,  or  good 
spiritual  affection  and  thought  are  gone  ;  and  we  may 
also  see  how  we  may  be  raised  above  all  falses  and  rest 
upon  the  mountain  of  love  to  God  and  the  neighbor, 
having  every  thought  and  affection  restored  to  order  by 
the  rules  of  life  denoted  by  the  ark. 

Now,  destructions  of  all  spirituality,  in  the  human 
mind,  are  often  described  in  the  Word  by  floods  of 
water  :  as  in  the  following  prophecy  of  Jeremiah 
xlvii.  2,  "  Behold,  waters  rise  up  out  of  the  north,  and 
shall  be  an  overflowing  flood,  and  shall  overflow  the 
land,  and  all  that  is  therein  ;  the  city,  and  them 
that  dwell  therein."  Here  the  north,  whence  the  wa- 
ters come,  is  a  dark  and  ignorant  state  of  the  mind, 
which  gives  forth  falses  :  the  land  which  is  overflowed, 
is  the  will  or  good  ground  of  the  heart  :  the  city  which 
is  destroyed,  is  true  doctrines  :  and  they  that  dwell 
therein,  are  all  the  good  principles  of  the  mind.  So 
here  we  have  another  flood,  of  a  somewhat  similar  char- 

10* 


226  THE    DELUGE. 

acter  to  that  in  Genesis  ;  in  which  the  land  is  over- 
flowed and  the  inhabitants  destroyed.  We  all  know 
that  this  a  prophecy  of  the  false  state  of  the  Jewish 
church,  and  that  it  has  not  taken  place  physically,  by 
inundating  their  bodies  ;  but  that  it  has  occurred  spir- 
itually by  their  falsities. 

Again,  the  Lord  says,  "  Who  is  this  that  cometh 
up  as  a  flood,  whose  waters  are  moved  as  the  rivers  ? 
Egypt  riseth  up  as  a  flood,  and  his  waters  are  moved 
like  the  rivers,  and  he  saith,  I  will  go  up,  and  will 
cover  the  earth  :  I  will  destroy  the  city  and  them  that 
dwell  therein."  (Jer.  xlvi.  7,  8.)  Here  Egypt  is  the 
natural  mind  in  its  falsities  ;  and  another  just  such  a 
flood  is  described,  covering  the  earth  and  destroying 
the  inhabitants.  And  yet  it  was  all  mental  ;  no  such 
flood  has  ever  taken  place  on  the  earth. 

Again,  in  Ezekiel,  prophesying  of  the  church  and  its 
doctrines,  the  Lord  says,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Jeho- 
vah, When  I  shall  make  thee  a  desolate  city,  as  the 
cities  that  are  not  inhabited  ;  when  I  shall  bring  up 
the  deep  upon  thee,  and  great  waters  shall  overflow 
thee  ;  when  I  shall  bring  thee  down  with  them  that 
descend  into  the  pit  with  the  people  of  olden  time." 
(Ezek.  xxvi.  19.  20.)  Here  is  another  similar  flood  ; 
the  city  denoting  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and  the 
people  the  members  ;  the  waters,  falsehoods.  And 
here  the  Lord  says  they  shall  be  destroyed  with  the 
people  of  olden  time — alluding  to  the  Mosaic  deluge. 
And  as  the  Jewish  church  was  not  destroyed  by  a  phys- 
ical flood,  and  yet  shared  the  same  fate  of  the  antedi- 
luvians, so  they  must  both  have  been  destroyed  by  men- 


THE    DELUGE.  227 

tal  floods.  And  so  Daniel,  when  predicting  the  rejec- 
tion of  Christ  and  the  destruction  of  the  city  and 
sanctuary  says,  "  The  end  thereof  shall  be  with  a 
flood."  The  Jews  were  really  immersed  in  falsehoods 
and  evils.  Their  spiritual  qualities  were  destroyed  by 
a  flood. 

And  the  Lord,  in  prophetically  treating  of  those  who 
daub  with  untempered  mortar  in  building  the  temple 
of  the  mind,  says,  "  There  shall  be  an  overflowing 
shower  in  mine  anger,  and  great  hailstones  in  my  fury, 
to  consume  it,  and  I  will  break  down  the  wall  thereof ;" 
which  shows  that  God  will  suffer  the  works  of  all  such 
to  be  destroyed  by  a  storm  of  falses  of  their  own  crea- 
ting ;  for  it  should  be  known  that  God  is  often  said,  in 
Scripture,  to  do  what  He  only  permits  to  be  done. 
This  is  the  case  with  regard  to  all  the  evils  which  He  is 
said  to  bring  upon  mankind.  He  is  the  Creator  and 
Preserver,  not  a  destroyer.  Man,  by  the  abuse  of  his 
freedom,  brings  all  the  evils  upon  himself.  So  God 
is  said  to  cause  it  to  rain  and  to  bring  the  flood  upon 
the  earth.  And  yet,  it  is  man  that  brings  the  flood  of 
falses  through  the  power  which  God  gives  him,  and 
which  he  might  use  to  a  better  purpose.  For  by  this 
same  power  man  could  look  to  the  Lord,  in  his  freedom, 
and  avoid  the  curse  if  he  pleased. 

The  Lord,  through  Isaiah,  speaking  of  the  church, 
says,  "  This  people  refuse th  the  waters  of  Shiloah  that 
go  softly;  therefore,  the  Lord  bringeth  up  upon  them  the 
waters  of  the  river,  strong  and  many,  and  he  shall  come 
up  over  all  his  channels,  and  go  over  all  his  banks." 
(Is.  viii.  6,  7.)  Here,  the  waters  of  Shiloah  which  go 


228  THE    DELUGE. 

softly,  are  'the  gentle  truths  of  the  Lord  speaking  in  the 
still  small  voice.  But  when  we  refuse  these  kind  prompt- 
ings of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  bring  upon  ourselves  the 
waters  of  the  river,  strong  and  many.  Falses,  like  a 
torrent,  will  sweep  in  upon  us,  if  we  refuse  to  yield  to 
the  gentle  admonitions  of  Jesus. 

David  says,  "  Save  me,  0  God,  for  the  waters  have 
come  into  my  soul."  Now,  natural  waters  cannot  touch 
our  souls.  Again  he  says,  "  I  am  come  into  deep 
waters,  where  floods  overflow  me."  "  Let  not  the 
waterfloods  overflow  me  ;  neither  let  the  deep  swallow 
me  up."- 

But  we  need  make  no  more  quotations  from  the 
Word.  It  must  be  obvious  that,  throughout  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  falses  destroying  spiritual  life,  are  repre- 
sented by  floods  of  water  destroying  man.  And  as 
waters  are  used  all  through  the  prophets  and  Psalms  to 
signify  truths  or  falses  instead  of  waters,  we  must  look 
for  the  same  in  Genesis.  For  there  must  be  a  uniform 
rule  for  understanding  God's  language.  He  being  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever  ;  so,  also,  must  be 
His  language.  And  whether  He  speaks  from  the  book 
of  Nature  or  that  of  Revelation  :  whether  in  Hebrew  or 
Greek  :  whether  by  Moses,  the  patriarchs,  the  proph- 
ets, the  apostles,  or  John  on  Patmos,  His  language 
is  ever  and  unquestionably  the  same  ;  and,  like  all  His 
works,  it  is  filled  with  influent  principles  of  spirit  and 
life.  And,  as  the  spirit  and  life  of  His  language  is  as 
distinct  from  the  mere  letter  as  cause  is  from  effect,  or 
the  sound  of  man's  words  from  the  feelings  that  utter 
them,  they  therefore  cannot  be  clearly  seen  or  appreci- 


THE    DELUGE.  229 

ated,  but  by  correspondences.  But,  blessed  be  the 
Lord,  we  are  no  longer  left  in  darkness  or  doubt  on  this 
subject  ;  but  have  a  universal  rule  by  which  the  glori- 
ous Word  may  be  opened  and  explained,  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation. 

One  great  point  to  be  constantly  borne  in  mind,  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  subject  of  the  flood,  is,  that 
man  is  man  by  means  of  order,  or  the  image  of  God 
within  him  :  that  the  image  of  God  in  man,  and  the 
church  in  him,  and  the  love  of  God  and  the  neighbor, 
mean  the  same  thing  :  that  when  a  man  loses  the  im- 
age of  his  Maker,  that  man  is  said  to  be  dead,  or  the 
church  in  him,  consummated  :  and  in  this  death  of 
the  man,  the  orderly  state  of  his  affections  and  thoughts 
is  destroyed  ;  which  would  be  described,  in  divine  lan- 
guage, by  the  destruction  of  animals  and  birds.  Man 
is,  everywhere  in  the  Word,  said  to  be  destroyed  by 
sin — made  dead.  That  is,  he  loses  that  which  makes 
him  truly  a  man.  So  were  the  antediluvians  destroyed 
by  sin — swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  true  pale 
of  the  church,  by  falsehoods. 

When  man  is  created  anew,  or  regenerated,  all  the 
principles  of  his  thoughts  and  affections  become  new, 
which  is  represented  by  the  creation  of  birds  and  ani- 
mals, &c.  The  lion,  the  lamb,  the  leopard,  the  kid, 
the  cow,  the  bear,  the  serpent,  the  dove,  the  raven,  &c., 
all  are  new,  all  in  order  and  harmony.  The  whole 
mental  earth,  the  microcosm,  with  all  its  teeming  in- 
habitants, is  created  anew.  In  this  way  the  lion  lies 
down  with  the  lamb,-  and  the  leopard  with  the  kid  ; 
the  cow  and  the  bear  feed  together,  and  a  little  child 


230  THE    DELUGE. 

leads  them.  In  this  way  G-od  enters  into  covenant 
with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  the  creeping  things  of 
the  earth.  In  this  way  everything  that  has  breath 
praises  the  Lord.  In  this  way  the  mountains  are 
moved,  and  the  hills  skip  like  young  sheep,  and  the 
valleys  laugh  and  sing.  In  this  way  the  church,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  is  formed  by  bringing  all  the  ani- 
mals, birds  and  creeping  things  into  the  ark  ;  or  all  the 
principles  of  the  soul  into  order. 

Let  us  now  look  at  this  narrative  of  the  flood,  in  the 
light  of  analogy,  and  see  if  we  can  reconcile  its  appa- 
rent contradictions  and  impossibilities.  The  human 
race  was  then  in  a  state  of  great  spiritual  darkness, 
brought  on  by  gradually  giving  up  the  truths  of  the 
understanding  to  the  embrace  of  the  evils  of  the  will. 

The  events  which  immediately  preceded  the  flood, 
and  which  finally  immersed  the  race  in  falsities,  are  de- 
clared, in  the  history,  to  be  these  : — "  The  sons  of  God 
saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair  ;  and 
they  took  them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose."  This 
can  only  be  understood  spiritually.  Truths  are  the 
male  element  of  the  mind,  and  goods,  the  female  ele- 
ment. By  sons  of  God  are  meant  truths  in  the  mind. 
Every  new  truth  which  we  receive  and  love,  is  really 
conceived  and  born  in  the  mind  from  the  word  of  wis- 
dom sown  in  the  heart.  It  is  a  son  of  God.  The  Son 
of  God  is  all  Truth  :  this  Truth  is  the  Christ.  And 
so,  by  daughters  of  God  are  meant  goods  in  the  mind. 
Every  good  principle  we  have  is  a  daughter  of  God,  an 
element  of  the  church,  born  of  God's  love  in  the  soul. 
And  had  the  sons  of  God  taken  the  daughters  of  God, 


THE    DELUGE.  231 

all  would  have  been  well  ;  for  goods  and  truths  are 
conjugial  partners.  But  they  took  the  daughters  of 
men.  By  the  daughters  of  men,  are  meant  evils. 
Whatever  comes  from  man's  proprium  is  not  good. 
God  is  the  only  source  of  good.  He  only  can  beget 
goods  in  us.  He  is  the  heavenly  Father  of  all  goods 
and  truths  ; — of  all  the  children  of  God.  And  it  is 
goods  and  truths,  in  us,  begotten  of  God,  and  born  in 
us,  that  make  us  His  children.  This  is  the  new  birth. 
But  when  the  truths  of  our  mind — the  sons  of  God — 
look  upon  the  evils  of  our  heart — the  daughters  of  men 
— and  think  them  fair,  and  come  down  into  their  em- 
brace, then  the  truths  become  adulterated  and  falsified 
by  the  evils  of  the  will  ;  and  thus  the  whole  mental 
earth  may  become  immersed  in  falses  and  errors. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  race,  at  the  time  of 
the  flood.  The  Lord,  in  mercy,  saw  their  condition, 
and,  in  order  to  save  them,  instituted  a  new  order  of 
things.  For,  under  every  emergency  the  Lord,  in 
mercy,  comes  down  to  men  with  instructions  adapted 
to  their  states.  By  Noah  and  his  family  are  meant  all 
those  who  were  willing  to  receive  and  regard  the  Lord's 
instructions.  By  the  ark  is  meant  the  church,  or  the 
new  state  of  order  which  the  Lord  was  establishing  in 
their  minds  as  to  doctrines  and  life.  The  church  is  now 
often  called  the  ark  of  safety.  By  the  materials  and 
dimensions  of  the  ark  are  meant  the  character  and 
quality  of  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  the  church. 

This  may,  at  first,  strike  some  as  strange  and  incredi- 
ble. But  this  is  a  rule  which  holds  good,  by  corre- 
spondence throughout  the  entire  Word.  Look  at  the 


232  THE    DELUGE. 

materials  and  dimensions  of  the  Holy  City  or  New 
Church  doctrines — a  city  1,500  miles  square,  with  gates, 
and  walls,  and  foundations,  and  precious  stones,  and 
gold,  and  silver,  and  pearls,  and  glass,  and  trees,  and 
rivers,  and  fruits,  all  coming  down  from  God,  out  of 
heaven,  into  the  human  mind.  Is  the  description  of 
the  ark,  as  applied  to  the  principles  of  the  church  or 
the  mind,  any  more  strange  than  this  ? 

By  the  building  of  the  ark  is  denoted  the  practising 
and  establishing,  by  faithful  and  humble  obedience, 
these  new  principles  of  life  in  the  mind.  For  these 
doctrines  and  rules  are  various  principles  of  goodness 
and  truth,  adapted  to  the  states  and  wants  of  that  age. 
And  when  these  principles  are  received  into  the  mind, 
that  mind  is  the  ark  or  the  church.  And  though  Noah 
and  his  family  are  said  to  be  in  the  ark.  yet  the  ark  is 
also  in  them.  Men  are  truly  in  the  church  only  when 
the  church  or  kingdom  is  in  them.  "  I  in  thee  and 
thou  in  me,"  saith  the  Lord.  The  three  stories  of  the 
ark  denote  the  three  degrees  of  the  mind — celestial, 
spiritual  and  natural.  The  window  in  the  top,  denotes 
the  understanding  for  the  reception  of  the  truth  of  the 
Word,  the  true  light  of  heaven.  The  door  in  the  side, 
denotes  the  reception  of  the  truth  by  hearing  and  obey- 
ing the  commandments  of  the  Word.  The  window 
above,  denotes  also  interior  or  spiritual  instruction  ; 
and  the  door  below,  external  or  natural  instruction. 
Seeing  and  hearing  are  the  two  most  common  entries 
into  the  mind  ;  and  are  represented  by  the  window  and 
door  of  the  ark.  Noah  and  his  family  denote  all  those 
who  embraced  the  new  doctrines.  By  their  entering  the 


THE    DELUGE.  233 

ark  is  meant  their  coming  under  the  power  and  influence 
of  these  doctrines  and  rules  ol  life.  By  the  animals 
entering  the  ark  is  meant  the  bringing  all  their  various 
affections  within  the  control  of  the  new,  divine  rules. 
The  entering  of  the  birds  denotes  the  subjugation  of  all 
their  thoughts  to  the  divine  laws.  The  clean  beasts 
and  cattle  denote  the  good  affections  of  the  mind,  and 
the  unclean,  the  bad  affections  :  for,  on  entering  the 
ark,  or  coming  under  the  influence  of  the  doctrines,  they 
took  with  them  all  their  mental  principles  good  and 
bad.  The  good  are  said  to  go  in  by  sevens,  because 
seven  is  a  holy  number  denoting  purity.  And  as  good 
affections  enter,  or  as  the  affections  become  good,  they 
come  into  a  state  of  peace  and  rest  signified  by  seven. 
The  bringing  of  the  creeping  things  into  the  ark,  de- 
notes the  control  of  all  the  low  and  grovelling  things  of 
the  mind  by  the  new  divine  truths. 

But,  we  are  asked,  why,  if  this  is  a  mental  ark  and 
flood,  is  it  said  to  rain  forty  days  and  forty  nights  ? 
This  is  because  the  number  40  denotes  a  full  state  of 
temptations.  It  denotes  the  whole  time  that  their 
minds  were  becoming  falsified.  Forty  is  a  number 
often  used  in  the  Word  for  that  purpose.  Days,  or 
nights,  or  years  denote  states  of  mind  :  forty  days,  all 
the  various  states  of  light,  and  forty  nights  all  the  va- 
rious states  or  shades  of  darkness  through  which  we 
pass  during  the  whole  period  of  our  temptations  and 
trials.  If  we  are  resisting  the  temptations  and  shun- 
ning the  evils,  the  states  or  nights  of  falsehood  and 
ignorance  are  disappearing,  and  all  is  becoming  bright 
with  truth,  till  we  end  in  eternal  day. 


234  THE    DELUGE. 

But  if  we  are  yielding  to  the  temptations,  the  days 
or  states  of  light  are  disappearing  ;  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness is  setting  ;  the  moon  of  faith  wanes  into  dark- 
ness ;  the  stars  of  true  knowledge  grow  dim  and  fade 
away,  till  the  whole  mind  is  inundated  with  ignorance 
and  falsehood.  Forty  is  a  very  peculiar  number.  It  is 
the  common  multiple  of  4  and  10.  Ten  denotes  all  Ave 
have.  It  is  the  termination  of  the  hands  and  feet.  It 
is  the  extent  of  our  numbering.  We  count  ten  and  be- 
gin again.  Thus  we  reckon  by  tens  and  parts  of  tens. 
Four  is  also  a  peculiar  number.  It  is  the  square  of 
two.  Two  denotes  the  first  two  things  of  all  exist- 
ences— love  and  wisdom,  or  goodness  and  truth.  Four 
denotes  the  fulness  of  those  principles.  That  fulness  is 
embraced,  by  correspondence,  in  the  four  cardinal  points 
— East,  West,  North  and  South  ;  in  the  four  seasons 
of  the  year — Spring,  Summer,  Autumn  and  Winter  ; 
in  the  four  periods  of  life — infancy,  childhood,  youth 
and  manhood  ;  and  in  the  four-square  of  the  Holy 
City,  which  includes  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy 
Word.  Forty,  therefore,  is  that  peculiar  number 
which,  by  correspondence,  denotes  the  whole  process  of 
any  thing. 

In  the  book  of  Numbers,  the  Lord  says,  "  Ye  shall 
bear  your  iniquity  forty  years  ;  ye  shall  search  the 
land  forty  days  ;"  which  means  the  whole  time  of  their 
trials  and  troubles.  The  Psalms  are  a  full  prophecy 
of  the  states  and  trials  through  which  the  Lord  Him- 
self passed  on  the  earth.  And,  in  them,  Ho  says  of 
the  Israelites,  "  Forty  years  long  was  I  grieved  with 
this  generation."  Now  what  does  He  mean  ?  He  did 


THE    DELUGE.  235 

not  live  forty  years  on  the  earth.  He  means,  by  forty 
years,  all  the  states  of  His  temptations  and  trials.  He 
assumed  the  depraved  nature  of  the  Israelites,  and  thus, 
forty  years  long  He  was  grieved  with  this  generation  ; 
or  until  He  glorified  His  humanity  by  putting  that 
generation  out  of  it,  and  filling  it  with  glory  from  above. 
Thus  Ezekiel  was  commanded  to  lie  forty  days  upon 
his  right  side,  to  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Ju- 
dah ?  Now,  why  this  command  ?  Why  lie  forty 
days  ?  Why  on  the  right  side  ?  And  why  would  he 
thus  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Judah  ?  The 
right  side  has  relation  to  goodness,  the  left  side  to 
truth.  To  lie  upon  the  right  side  is  to  rest  or  rely 
upon  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God  ;  and  forty  days 
would  be  during  all  the  states  and  trials  of  the  house 
of  Judah,  until  their  iniquity  should  pass  away. 

Hence  it  is  evident  why  it  was  ordained,  in  Deuter- 
onomy, that  a  wicked  man  should  be  beaten  with  forty 
stripes  :  it  means  that  he  would  receive  punishment 
for  all  his  transgressions  :  and,  why  it  is  said  that 
Moses  abode  in  the  mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights, 
neither  did  he  eat  bread  nor  drink  water,  praying  for 
the  people  :  and  also  why  the  Lord  was  tempted  in 
the  wilderness  forty  days  ;  and  why  the  children  of 
Israel  were  forty  years  in  the  wilderness  to  humble 
them  and  to  prove  1hein.  It  is  by  no  means  certain 
that  the  Israelites  were  just  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  or  that  the  Lord  was  there  forty  days  ;  or  that 
Moses  was  praying  forty  days  and  nights,  on  the  mount, 
without  eating  or  drinking  :  for  forty  means  the  whole 
time,  or  all  the  states  of  trial  they  passed  through. 


236  THE   DELUGE. 

Let  us  now  look  into  those  strange  contradictions 
of  the  literal  sense,  mentioned  in  this  narrative,  and  see 
how  clearly  they  are  removed  "by  the  spiritual  sense. 
In  looking  back,  then,  to  the  time  they  entered  the  ark, 
we  behold  the  people  of  that  age  in  a  state  of  profound 
darkness  and  error  :  their  whole  mental  earth  inun- 
dated with  falses.  In  the  midst  of  this  general  gloom 
.and  wretchedness,  we  see  a  little  band,  called  Noah  and 
his  family,  hearkening  to  the  new  teachings  of  the 
Lord,  and  forming  a  little  church.  They  call  this 
church  the  ark  :  and  they  enter  into  its  worship  and 
instructions,  bringing  under  its  influence  all  their  way- 
ward and  various  thoughts,  feelings  and  propensities — • 
every  living  creature  of  their  mind  and  heart ;  and  they 
feed  them  there  with  food  from  heaven,  or  with  divine 
goods  and  truths.  In  this  ark  or  church,  they  keep 
their  falses  under,  and  thus  the  ark  is  raised  in  their 
estimation  above  their  own  and  the  surrounding  waters 
of  error,  until  its  doctrines  rise  to  the  very  summit  of 
their  aifections.  They  truly  love  them  ;  the  ark  rests 
on  the  Ararat  of  their  hearts — their  love  to  God.  and 
His  truth. 

And  we  can  now  understand  how  it  is  that  the  water 
could  continue  to  rise  so  long  after  it  had  done  raining  ; 
and  also  how  it  could  return  from  oif  the  earth  con- 
tinually for  113  days,  and  yet,  Noah  then  send  out  a 
dove,  and  she  find  the  water  on  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth.  It  was  the  earth  or  mind  of  the  people  in  the 
ark,  upon  which  the  waters  or  falses  thus  rose  and  fell. 
They  entered  the  ark,  or  came  under  the  doctrines, 
with  the  waters  or  falses  even  over  their  own  moun- 


THE    DELUGE.  237 

tains.  Their  mental  earth  was  immersed  in  falses,  but 
they  had  some  life  left.  And  the  church  or  ark  was  the 
means  by  which  they  were  to  get  rid  of  those  falses 
and  bring  their  true  life  into  action.  They  had  some 
remains  or  germs  of  life  that  could  be  quickened  by  a 
righteous  life  ;  and  the  ark,  or  new  doctrines,  was  given 
for  this  purpose.  They  were  not  aware  of  the  depth 
of  their  own  ignorance  and  depravity  of  heart.  And 
it  was  only  as  they  learned  to  practise  and  regard  the 
new  truths  which  were,  at  first,  merely  in  their  under- 
standings, that  they  could  see  their  falses  of  heart. 
For  though  they  had  new  light  in  their  understanding, 
adapted  to  their  wants,  yet  it  had  not  shined  upon  the 
mountains  of  their  will.  And,  therefore,  notwithstand- 
ing it  had  done  raining,  or  that  they  had  ceased  to  receive 
falses,  yet  they  were  ignorant  of  the  extent  of  their 
darkness.  But  as  they  turned  their  thoughts  inward 
and  explored  their  hearts  from  externals  to  internals, 
they  progressively  perceived  the  various  falses  of  their 
will.  And  as  they  pursued  the  investigation  upwards 
towards  the  interior  or  summit  of  the  heart,  they  still 
perceived  that,  at  every  new  step  or  day  they  took,  the 
waters  of  deceit  were  there. 

Thus  the  waters  are  said  to  rise,  after  it  had  done 
raining,  when  the  rising  was  all  in  the  perceptions  of 
the  people  of  the  church.  It  was  only  their  increasing 
ability  to  see  the  deeper  and  still  deeper,  or  higher  ex- 
tent of  their  falses.  The  waters  were  actually  there  in 
their  hearts,  when  they  entered  the  ark,  or  joined  the 
church,  but  they  had  not  seen  them,  and  the  ark  had 
not  risen  above  them.  And  when,  by  practising  and 


238  THE    DELUGE. 

learning  to  love  the  new  truths,  the}7  had  seen  and 
tiaced  the  waters  of  deception  up  to  the  very  summit 
of  their  affections,  then  it  was,  and  not  till  then,  that 
the  waters  could  begin  to  subside  from  the  uppermost 
pinnacle  of  the  will  and  let  the  ark  of  heavenly  truths 
rest  upon  the  top  of  the  mountain  of  love  and  good 
will.  It  could  not  rest  there  tiU  the  waters  of  deceit 
were  removed.  They  could  not  be  removed  till  they 
were  seen.  They  could  be  seen,  in  the  more  interi- 
or states  of  the  heart,  only  as  the  people  came  into  high- 
er states  of  perception.  These  higher  states  of  the  per- 
ception of  deeper  falses  are  what  is  meant  by  the  73 
days  during  which  the  waters  continued  to  rise  after  it 
ha'd  done  raining,  or  after  they  had  done  practising  de- 
ceit. And  it  was  not  until  they  had  thus  obeyed  the 
new  truths  and  truly  loved  them,  or  until  the  ark  was 
on  the  mountain,  that  they  could  effectually  put  away 
their  evils  and  falses.  And  the  returning  of  the  wa- 
ters from  off  the  earth  continually,  immediately  after 
the  ark  had  rested,  was  the  progressive  work  of  purifi- 
cation of  the  heart  from  its  falses.  Thus  it  was  from 
off  the  minds  of  the  church  or  the  people  in  the  ark, 
and  not  from  those  of  the  world  without,  that  the  wa- 
ters were  returning  continually  till  Noah  sent  forth  the 
dove.  And,  as  they  were  purified  and  came  into  states 
of  true  thoughts  and  feelings,  they  felt  a  sincere  regard 
for  the  salvation  of  the  world  of  mankind,  around 
them,  lying  in  darkness.  And  theykindly  sent  forth 
the  dove  to  see  if  the  waters  or  falses  were  abated  from 
their  minds. 


THE    DELUGE.  23jJ 

The  dove  corresponds  to  the  Holy  Spirit — the  spirit 
of  truth  and  love.  This  little  church  then,  sent  forth 
that  gentle  Spirit  to  the  world  of  mind  around,  to  see 
if  the  darkness  of  error  had  subsided,  and  they  would 
accept  the  truth.  But  all  was  still  false — dark  as 
night.  The  dove  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot, 
for  the  waters  were  on  the  whole  face  of  the  earth.  No 
mind  could  receive  the  truth.  What  Christian  heart 
that  has  a  new  and  heavenly  truth,  has  not  experienced 
the  same  thing  in  his  efforts  to  present  that  truth  to 
other  minds  ?  How  often  has  the  gentle  dove  returned 
unto  him  into  the  ark  of  his  own  bosom  for  a  place  to 
rest  her  foot ! 

Noah  first  sent  forth  a  raven — a  bird  denoting  very 
external  truth.  This  flew  to  and  fro  in  their  external 
understandings  till  their  falses  had  so  subsided  as  to 
receive  it.  But  they  could  receive  nothing  higher.  It 
was  necessary  that  they  should  first  have  the  external 
truth.  "  First  that  which  is  natural,  afterward  that 
which  is  spiritual." 

But  Noah,  after  the  return  of  the  dove,  waited  seven 
days,  or  till  they  had  come  into  new  states  of  mind 
from  the  exercise  of  natural  truth :  and  he  sent  forth 
the  dove  again,  or  offered  them  the  spirit  of  truth  once 
more.  But  their  perceptions  were  still  too  dark  to  re- 
ceive her,  and  she  returned  ;  and  "  Lo,  in  her  mouth 
was  an  olive-leaf  plucked  off."  The  olive-tree,  from  its 
oil,  denotes  celestial  love  ;  the  leaf  denotes  the  truth  of 
faith  from  that  love.  The  return  of  the  dove  with  the 
olive-leaf  plucked  off,  denotes  that  they  could  receive 
some  little  of  spiritual  truth,  or  some  faith,  but  could 


240  THE    DELUGE. 

not  yet  receive  the  love      The  leaf  was  plucked  off,  or 
separated  from  the  tree. 

Noah  waited  yet  other  seven  days,  or  for  new  states 
of  mind,  and  sent  forth  the  dove  again,  and  then  they 
received  the  spirit  of  truth.  Thus  the  church  "began  to 
spread  among  other  minds.  Now,  I  am  aware  that 
there  are  many  things  in  this  narrative  which  I  have 
not  mentioned  ;  and  about  which  you  are  ready  to  ask 
questions.  But  remember  that  there  is  matter  here  for 
many  sermons.  I  could  glance  only  at  the  leading  fea- 
tures. And  I  can  only  add  that  all  may  be  rationally 
understood  through  the  science  of  correspondences  : 
that  it  is  a  beautiful,  clear  and  comprehensive  descrip- 
tion of  the  fall  and  regeneration  of  man.  "  Forever,  0 
Lord,  thy  Word  is  settled  in  heaven.  The  righteous- 
ness of  thy  testimonies  is  everlasting  :  give  me  under- 
standing and  I  shall  live." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

CAIN,  ABEL  AND  SETH  ;    CAIN'S  WIFE  AND  THE  CITY  OF 
ENOCH. 

"  And  Cain  knew  his  wife ;  and  she  conceived,  and  bare  Enoch : 
and  he  builded  a  city,  and  called  the  name  of  the  city,  after  the 
name  of  his  son,  Enoch." — (Gen.  iv.  17.) 

PERHAPS  there  is  no  passage  in  the  Holy  Word, 
which  has  caused  more  surprise,  or  been  more  fruitful 
of  skepticism  and  cavil,  than  that  of  the  text.  Com- 
mentators have  puzzled  their  brains  over  it  for  naught. 
Volumes  have  been  written  upon  it  to  no  purpose.  The 
question  still  remains  to  be  asked,  by  millions,  Where 
did  Cain  get  his  wife  ?  or  who  was  she  ?  And  well 
may  the  candid  searcher  after  truth  ask  these  questions, 
if  he  looks  only  to  this  literal  history  for  an  answer. 
For  the  letter  alone  clearly  and  definitely  teaches,  that 
the  human  family,  at  that  time,  consisted  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  and  their  son  Cain.  There  is  no  account  of  any 
more  births  than  Cain  and  Abel.  Who,  then,  could 
Cain  have  married  ?  and  who  built  the  city  of  Enoch  ? 
And  yet,  it  appears  that  Cain  was  afraid,  lest  every  one 
that  should  find  him  would  slay  him. 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke  thinks  that  Adam  and  Eve,  at  this 
11 


242  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH  ; 

time,  could  have  had  over  a  thousand  descendants.  But 
it  is  very  strange,  if  Adam  and  Eve  had  been  popula- 
ting the  world,  that  the  history  should  mention  the 
names  of  no  daughters,  and  of  only  two  sons  :  and 
should  mention  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  incline  the 
reader  to  believe  that  these  two  children  were  all  they 
had  then  had.  For,  with  all  the  suggestions  of  Dr. 
Clarke  and  others,  Eve  still  declares  that  her  son  Seth, 
who  was  not  born  until  after  Cain  had  built  his  city,  was 
the  successor  of  Abel  and,  to  all  appearance,  the  third 
child.  For  she  said,  at  his  birth,  "  God  hath  appointed 
me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew/' 

But  why  should  we  talk  of  these  strange  things  of 
the  letter,  when  the  science  of  correspondences  removes 
the  mystery  and  opens,  to  the  Biblical  scholar,  a  new 
field  of  thought ;  and  either  closes  the  mouth  of  tho 
skeptic,  by  rational  and  irrefutable  argument,  or  opens 
it  afresh  with  songs  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God, 
for  the  glorious  truths  of  His  Holy  Word.  For  the 
letter  of  the  history  was  given  solely  for  the  sake  of  the 
spiritual  sense  :  and  when  it  was  written  it  was  under- 
stood ;  and  men  read  therein  only  a  history  of  mental 
things.  But,  it  maybe  asked,  how  so  deep  and  obscure 
a  science  as  that  of  correspondences  could  have  been 
understood,  at  so  early  an  age  of  the  world  ?  We 
answer  :  when  this  science  was  first  known  by  man,  it 
did  not  require  labor  and  study  to  learn  and  understand 
it,  as  it  now  does.  When  the  human  mind  was  in  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God,  it  saw  things  in  the  light 
of  the  divine  mind.  Its  thoughts  were  in  the  divine 
current.  The  divine  goods  and  truths  flowed  into  it ; 


CAIN'S   WIFE    AND    ENOCH.  243 

and  it  looked  down  synthetically  from  causes  to  effects  ; 
and  it  consequently  understood  analogy.  Man  saw  and 
acted  almost  instinctively,  as  a  bird  builds  its  nest,  or 
a  bee,  its  cells.  He  therefore  understood  the  relation 
between  mind  and  matter  ;  but  not  in  his  own  wisdom. 
Yet,  from  his  having  a  selfhood,  and  being  free  and 
rational,  it  appeared  to  him  as  though  he  saw  and  acted 
from  his  own  wisdom  and  power.  Still  he  was  capable 
of  understanding  that  God  was  all  in  all,  and  he  was 
not  obliged  to  fall.  But  as  he  fell  into  sin,  and  became 
natural  in  his  thoughts  and  feelings,  he  gradually  lost 
his  high  position  and  his  spirituality,  until  he  finally 
became  entirely  natural  and  selfish.  In  this  downward 
process,  the  law  of  analogy  became  a  mere  matter  of 
the  memory,  and  the  correspondences  were  no  longer 
understood.  And  then,  as  the  people  had  lost  the  true 
light  of  that  science,  and  as  their  memory,  without  that 
light,  was  unstable,  the  correspondences,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  became  corrupted,  and  were  gradually  lost  sight 
of ;  and  the  science  became  involved  in  darkness. 

But,  for  a  long  time,  the  wise  and  learned  retained 
that  science.  And  it  was  their  custom  and  delight  to 
compose  fables  and  imaginary  histories  of  natural  things 
and  events,  in  consecutive  order,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
scribing, by  analogy,  certain  mental  progressions  and  de- 
velopments, or  changes  and  movements  of  the  thoughts 
and  feelings.  In  this  way,  the  development  of  a  human 
mind,  in  all  its  various  and  minute  changes,  from  in- 
fancy to  old  age,  could  be  accurately  recorded  by  com- 
posing, from  day  to  day,  a  history  of  the  production, 
growth  and  changes  of  natural  things,  carefully  adapt- 


244  CAIN,    ABEL   AND    SETH  ; 

ing  the  history  to  the  mental  facts,  by  correspondences, 
as  they  occurred.  The  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis, 
or  to  the  call  of  Abram,  are  of  this  class  of  writings. 
They  are  pure  analogy,  in  composed  history,  given  by 
our  heavenly  Father  solely  for  the  sake  of  the  internal 
sense. 

The  real  history  of  natural  things  and  events  com- 
mences with  the  call  of  Abram.  But  this  history  has 
also  an  internal  sense  the  same  as  the  other  :  and  many 
things  are  there  said  which,  at  this  age,  require  the 
light  of  the  spiritual  sense  to  make  them  plain.  Bibli- 
cal critics  have  generally  believed  in  the  literal  sense, 
after  the  call  of  Abram  :  but  the  history,  before  that 
time,  has  been  considered,  by  some  of  the  wise  men  of 
all  ages,  to  contain  only  a  hidden  sense,  and  that  the 
literal  meaning  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  teaching  nat- 
ural events  ;  but  merely  a  vessel  containing  divine 
wisdom  within  it.  Origen  says,  "  Who  is  so  weak  us 
to  think  that  God  planted  a  garden,  like  a  husband- 
man, and  in  it  a  tree  of  life,  to  be  tasted  by  corporeal 
teeth  :  or  that  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  to 
bs  acquired  by  eating  of  another  tree  ?  And  as  to 
God's  walking  in  the  garden  and  man  hiding  himself 
from  Him  among  the  trees,  no  man  can  doubt  that 
these  things  are  to  be  taken  figuratively  and  not  liter- 
ally." Thus  speaks  Origen. 

That  portion  of  the  Bible  before  the  call  of  Abram 
is  much  older  than  the  rest,  and  belonged  to  the  purely 
hieroglyphic  age.  It  was  a  part  of  a  more  ancient  Di- 
vine Word,  to  a  more  ancient  people.  It  was  tran- 
scribed by  Moses,  by  divine  direction,  and  placed  at  the 


CAIN'S  WIFE  AND  ENOCH.  245 

beginning  of  the  Divine  Word,  as  the  proper  introduc- 
tion, directing  us  back  to  the  very  beginning  of  the 
creation  of  anything  and  everything ;  and  embracing 
creation  during  all  time.  Thus,  in  tracing  back  sacred 
history,  we  are  lost  in  hieroglyphics  when  we  reach  the 
call  of  Abram.  The  letter  is  no  longer  reasonable,  nor 
in  harmony  with  the  truths  of  natural  science. 

But  it  is  not  in  sacred  history  alone,  that  we  are  so 
lost.  We  are  equally  lost  in  following  back  profane 
history.  What  do  we  know  of  the  world's  history  dur- 
ing the  fabulous  and  heroic  ages  ?  Cast  your  eye  back 
before  the  founding  of  Rome  and  you  are  swallowed  up 
in  myths.  Go  back  only  800  years  before  Christ,  and 
you  want  an  interpreter  before  you  can  understand  the 
records  of  that  day.  Who  were  the  ancestors  of  Romu- 
lus ?  History  declares  that  he  was  brought  up  in  the 
woods  and  fed  by  a  wolf.  Is  this  the  origin  of  the 
founder  of  Rome,  the  mistress  of  the  world  ?  Were 
the  woods  his  native  place  ?  And  were  his  companions 
wolves  ?  The  truth  is,  profane  history  is  here  merged 
in  the  fogs  of  fable  and  symbol  ;  and  no  man  of  this 
age  can  read  that  history. 

If  we  knew  what  the  historian  meant  by  woods  and 
wolves,  we  might  tell  something  of  the  character  of 
the  early  associates  of  Romulus.  These  things  are 
true  correspondences.  We  know  that  woods  denote  a 
wild  uncultivated  state  of  the  mind,  and  wolf,  something 
of  the  affections  ;  and  from  the  quality  and  habits  of 
this  animal,  we  might  know  something  of  the  character 
of  the  parents  and  companions  of  Romulus,  if  the 
knowledge  and  judgment  of  the  historian  were  reliable : 


246  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH  ; 

but  here  profane  history  is  swallowed  up  in  mythologi- 
cal mysteries.  The  science  of  correspondences  had  be- 
come so  perverted  and  adulterated,  at  that  age,  that 
the  true  meaning  of  the  writings  of  that  day  can  never 
be  known  ;  but  still  that  Oriental  literature  contains 
much  more  wisdom  than  is  attributed  to  it.  If  the 
ideas  were  expressed  in  pure  correspondences,  they  could 
now  be  read  by  the  restored  law  of  analogy.  But  being 
clothed  in  the  corruptions  of  that  science,  much  valu- 
able information  must  be  for  ever  lost  to  the  world. 

Now,  to  find  the  truth  of  the  text,  and  of  the  sub- 
ject before  us,  \ve  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  Holy 
Word,  from  beginning  to  end,  in  its  spiritual  sense,  is 
a  history  of  the  creation  and  decline  of  the  church,  or, 
in  other  words,  of  order  and  disorder  in  the  human 
mind  ;  and  that  this  ancient  portion  of  the  Word, 
down  to  the  call  of  Abram  without  the  spiritual  sense 
cannot  teach  wisdom.  And  therefore,  by  Adam  and 
Eve,  Cain,  Abel  and  Seth,  as  well  as  all  other  things 
mentioned,  are  meant  only  principles  of  the  mind,  and 
not  persons  and  things. 

Now,  the  church  is  composed  of  two  kinds  of  things 
— goods  and  truths,  in  great  varieties.  Goods  give  us 
God's  likeness,  and  truths,  His  image.  Thus  it  is  the 
church  in  man  that  gives  him  God's  image.  The  church 
is  really  the  man.  Without  the  church  there  is  no 
man.  For  then,  man  is  not  a  man,  but  a  beast.  The 
creation  of  the  church,  therefore,  is  the  creation  of 
Man.  Adam  is  the  generic  name  for  the  whole  race, 
males  and  females.  "  In  the  day  that  God  created  Man, 
in  the  likeness  of  God  made  He  him  ;  male  and  female 


CAIN'S   WIFE    AND    ENOCH.  247 

created  He  them  ;  and  blessed  them,  and  called  their 
name  Adam/'  (Gen.  v.  1,  2.)  By  Adam  and  Eve,  Cain, 
Abjl  and  Seth,  are  meant  things  of  the  church  in  the 
human  mind. 

And  now,  to  clearly  see  our  subject,  we  must  turn 
our  eyes  away  from  the  people  to  the  church  ;  to  what 
is  within  the  people,  and  look  at  the  history  there  ; 
considering  all  the  people,  as  to  their  quality,  the 
church  :  the  truths  of  the  people,  the  male  element  of 
the  church,  and  the  goods,  the  female  element ;  and  that 
every  man  and  woman  possesses  both  of  these  elements, 
for  every  one  has  truths  and  goods.  Truths  and  goods 
are  everywhere  treated  of  in  the  Word,  as  male  and 
female.  Goodness  and  truth  are  the  elementary  prin- 
ciples of  all  life  from  God.  They  are  of  infinite  va- 
rieties, and  are  consequently  adapted  to  all  the  various 
things  in  nature  ;  and  they  flow  from  God  into  all  things 
according  to  their  qualities.  The  influx  of  these  two 
living  elements  is  what  gives  to  all  nature  the  male  and 
female  principles. 

Truth  and  good  united  constitute  the  church.  The 
truth  of  the  first  church  may  properly  be  called  Adam, 
and  the  good  of  that  church  may  be  called  Eve,  be- 
cause truth  is  the  male  principle  and  good  the  female. 
The  Lord  is  called  the  husband  of  the  church  because 
HJ  is  all  Truth.  And  the  truth  wedded  to  goodness  in 
our  hearts  makes  us  the  bride,  because  it  gives  us  Go  1's 
image,  or  establishes  the  church  in  us.  Adam,  then, 
means  the  church,  or  the  world  of  mankind  in  order — 
the  whole  human  family  before  the  fall.  In  distinction 
from  Eve,  Adam;  in  the  spiritual  sense,  means  the  truth 


248  CAIN;    ABEL    AND    SETH  ; 

or  head  of  tlie  church,  and  Eve  the  good  or  heart  of 
the  church. 

Now  the  church  is  often  spoken  of  in  the  Word  as 
conceiving  and  bringing  forth.  The  kingdom  of  heav- 
en is  like  seed  cast  into  the  ground.  This  ground  is 
the  goodness  or  Eve  of  the  church.  And  this  seed  is 
the  truth  or  Adarn  of  the  church.  The  Lord  as  the 
Word,  is  the  husband  of  the  church  as  to  goodness. 
By  Adam  is  also  meant  the  understanding  of  the  church, 
and  by  Eve,  the  will. 

Now  the  circumstances  under  which  the  text  was  re- 
corded were  these  :  the  human  family  on  earth  had 
passed  out  of  the  garden,  or  state  of  happiness,  into 
disorder.  And  they  found  that  something  must  be  done 
to  restore  harmony  and  peace  among  them.  To  accom- 
plish this  object  this  understanding  and  this  will  of  the 
people — this  Adam  and  this  Eve  of  the  church — set 
themselves  to  work  to  devise  some  doctrine  or  means 
which  they  could  use  for  the  benefit  of  the  church. 
They  needed  some  rules  of  life.  And  they  conceived 
and  brought  forth  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and  called  its 
name  Cain.  Faith  was  the  first  begotten  of  the  church. 
They  resolved  that  they  would  not  forget  their  God  ; 
but  would  believe  on  Him  and  acknowledge  his  suprem- 
acy and  laws.  But  they  found  that  one  rule  of  life 
was  not  enough.  And  they  brought  forth  and  estab- 
lished another  doctrine  which  was  charity  ;  and  they 
called  its  name  Abel. 

Thus,  Adam,  or  the  understanding  of  the  church  or 
people,  in  connection  with  Eve,  or  the  will  of  the 
church,  brought  forth  and  established,  for  the 


CAIN'S    WIFE    AND    ENOCH.  249 

and  government  of  the  community,  these  two  funda- 
mental doctrines  or  rules  of  life  •— faith  and  charity — 
called  Cain  and  Ahel.  These  rules  taught  them  that 
they  must  believe  in  the  Lord  and  regard  His  laws  ; 
and  also  love  one  another  and  live  in  peace.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  fall,  these  rules  had  become  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  order  and  safety  of  the  community. 
Before  the  fall  they  needed  no  such  doctrines  or  rules. 
The  people,  then,  were  the  direct  and  orderly  recipients 
of  God's  love  and  wisdom  ;  and  they  acted  out  those 
principles  as  by  intuition,  and  yet,  as  though  they 
were  their  own.  But,  after  the  fall,  they  had  to  exer- 
cise their  reason  and  judgment.  Before  the  fall,  they 
did  what  they  felt  to  be  right.  After  the  fall,  they  had 
to  do  what  they  saw  to  be  right.  They  had  eaten  of 
the  forbidden  fruit — the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil.  Then-  eyes  or  understandings  were  opened.  And 
they  had  become  wise  in  their  own  eyes,  proud  of  their 
own  wisdom.  This  brought  discord.  Each  wanted  to 
rule.  And  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  looking  to 
the  Lord,  by  faith,  and  exercising  the  laws  of  charity, 
in  order  to  make  life  agreeable.  And  to  accomplish 
this,  the  church  established  these  two  doctrines.  They 
now  had  faith  in  the  Lord  and  charity  towards  the 
neighbor.  And  as  long  as  they  regarded  these  doc- 
trines all  went  on  well,  of  course.  This  was  the  best 
that  the  Lord  could  do  for  them,  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

But,  as  selfishness  increased,  some  ceased  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  life  of  charity  :  this  was  more  duty  to  the 
neighbor  than  they  were  willing  to  perform.  And  they 

11* 


250  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH  ; 

gradually  reasoned  themselves  into  the  belief  that  faith 
in  God  was  all  the  doctrine  that  it  was  necessary  to  ex- 
ercise. As  long  as  they  had  charity,  they  offered  the 
firstlings  of  the  flock,  or  their  best  affections  to  the 
Lord.  But  the  faith  of  the  head  began  to  reason 
against  the  offerings  of  the  heart,  and  these  people  said 
to  themselves,  It  is  not  necessary  to  our  salvation  to 
love  our  neighbor  :  faith  in  God  is  far  better.  We 
need  not  give  away,  any  longer,  the  firstlings  of  the 
flock — our  best  affections — for  an  offering  ;  we  want 
them  for  ourselves.  Surely,  if  we  give  the  fruit  of  the 
ground,  or  true  faith  in  the  Lord,  that  will  be  all-suf- 
ficient. Love  to  the  neighbor  cannot  save  us.  Salva- 
tion is  of  God.  We  can  do  nothing.  If  we  believe  in 
the  Lord,  he  will  save  us  by  that  faith.  Thus  the 
head  reasoned  against  the  heart,  and  the  will  and  the 
understanding  became  separated.  A  strong  contention 
arose  between  the  judgment  and  the  feelings,  or  be- 
tween faith  and  charity,  and  eventually,  the  selfishness 
of  the  natural,  earthly  man  overruled  the  better  feelings 
of  the  heart,  and  finally  destroyed  the  love  of  the 
neighbor. 

Thus  Cain,  or  faith  slew  his  brother  Abel  or  charity. 
The  good  affections  of  the  heart  were  destroyed.  Faith 
alone  was  the  cold  and  selfish  state  of  a  portion  of  the 
church.  The  church  was  therefore  divided  into  two 
parties.  Thus,  the  Cainites  or  faith-alone-people,  had 
their  own  peculiar  views  distinct  from  those  who  still 
adhered  to  the  principles ' of  charity.  But  they  were 
unhappy  creatures,  as  all  must  be  who  have  no  true 
love  for  one  another.  "  And  the  LOUD  said  unto  Cain, 


CAIN'S    WIFE    AND    ENOCH.  251 

Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?  And  he  said,  I  know  not:  am 
I  my  brother's  keeper  ?"  Thus,  in  a  reflective  moment, 
the  Lord  as  the  truth,  entered  their  minds,  and  they 
said  to  themselves,  Where  is  my  love  to  the  neighbor  ? 
They  saw  and  felt  their  coldness  ;  and  they  answered, 
I  know  not  where  my  charity  is  gone.  And  they  an- 
swered truly  ;  for  they  had  ceased  to  be  their  brother's 
keeper.  Their  love  of  the  neighbor  was  dead.  They 
felt  condemned  under  the  light  of  this  truth.  They 
saw  that  they  were  not  what  they  should  be.  And,  as 
said  by  the  Lord,  when  they  should  till  the  ground,  or 
cultivate  the  mind,  it  would  not  yield  its  strength  ;  for 
faith  without  charity  can  produce  no  good  fruits.  The 
mental  earth  cannot  be  cultivated  by  truth  without 
goodness.  And,  in  their  luminous  moments,  they  saw 
that  they  were  fugitives  and  vagabonds  in  the  earth, 
and  they  were  fearful  of  becoming  entirely  destroyed 
or  wretched. 

But  the  light,  which  thus  showed  them  their  condi- 
tion, did  not  reach  their  hearts  so  as  to  enkindle  benev- 
olence, but  only  to  excite  selfish  fear.  And  as  the 
truth  had  failed  to  call  them  back  to  kindness,  the  next 
effort  of  the  Lord  was  to  keep  them  from  falling  lower. 
And  He  therefore  said,  "  Whosoever  slayeth  Cain,  ven- 
geance shall  be  taken  on  him  seven-fold."  That  is, 
the  Lord  told  them,  by  the  truth  in  tht-ir  minds,  that 
if  they  should  destroy  their  faith  in  Him,  or  cease  to 
believe  in  Him,  they  would  be  seven-fold  more  wretched 
than  they  were  then.  Their  faith  still  gave  them  some 
connection  with  the  Lord.  There  was  something  liv- 
ing in  it.  And  if  they  should  lose  that,  then  indeed 


252  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH  J 

they  would  fall  into  the  lowest  wretchedness.  He  who 
disbelieves  in  a  God  whom  he  can  love  is  spiritually  or 
mentally  most  miserable.  He  has  no  hope  of  future  ex- 
istence or  heavenly  joys.  All  he  can  see  before  him, 
when  this  life  ends,  is  darkness  and  extinction.  And 
even  this  life  loses  its  brightness  and  its  true  delights. 
These  Cainites  therefore  settled  down  in  the  doctrine 
of  faith  alone.  They  became  a  portion  of  the  church 
that  differed  from  the  main  body.  And  the  Lord  set 
a  mark  upon  them  that  they  might  be  known  and  pre- 
served. That  mark  was  faith.  The  ensign  of  the 
church  from  which  they  had  sprung  would  be  faith  and 
charity.  Name  or  mark  means  quality.  Faith  was 
the  quality  or  name  of  the  new  sect.  That  was  their 
mark  of  distinction.  And  so  long  as  they  should  wear 
that  mark — so  long  as  they  should  have  faith — they 
would  have  some  spiritual  life. 

But,  being  without  charity,  the  light  of  their  faith 
in  time  grew  dim  and  feeble.  Thus  it  is  said  that  Cain 
went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Nod.  They  receded  from  the  light  and 
sunk  into  a  vagabond  state.  Places  denote  states  of 
mind.  Land  of  Nod,  a  vagabond  state,  or  a  state  des- 
titute of  goodness  and  truth. 

The  world  has  been  long  searching  in  vain  for  the 
garden  of  Eden,  the  land  of  Nod,  and  the  city  of  Enoch 
which  Cain  built.  But,  why  should  they  have  searched 
this  earth  for  the  place  where  Cain  went,  when  it  is 
declared  that  he  was  driven  from  the  face  of  the  earth  ? 
Indeed  it  could  not  be  found,  as  a  place,  in  the  vast 
universe  of  mind  or  matter  :  for  it  is  said  to  be  "  out 


CAIN'S  WIFE  AND  ENOCH.  253 

from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  And  where  is  not  the 
omnipresent  God  ?  "  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven, 
Thou  art  there  :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold, 
Tluu  art  there."  Thus  we  see  that  the  land  of  Nod 
must  be  a  state  of  mind  which  does  not  see  and  love 
the  Lord. 

"  And  Cain  knew  his  wife,  and  she  conceived,  and 
bare  Enoch  :  and  he  builded  a  city,  and  called  the 
name  of  the  city,  after  the  name  of  his  son,  Enoch." 
Now,  who,  or  what  was  this  wife  of  Cain  ?  Cain  was 
a  portion  of  the  church  or  was  a  society  of  men  and 
women  who  believed  in  faith  alone.  Cain  also  means 
the  faith  or  the  understanding — the  male  element  of 
that  body.  And  the  female  element  is  the  will  or  love 
of  that  body.  And  as  soon  as  these  Cainites  had  cul- 
tivated a  real  love  of  the  idea  of  faith  alone  ;  when  the 
feelings  of  the  heart  had  become  fully  wedded  to  that 
sentiment  of  the  head,  Cain,  of  course,  had  a  wife;  i.  e., 
the  will  and  the  understanding  were  wedded  in  that 
doctrine.  And  then  followed  the  birth  of  Enoch. 
This  church  of  Cuin  could  have  offspring  as  well  as  the 
church  of  Adam.  Thus  these  Cainites,  through  the 
union  of  their  wills  and  understandings,  gave  birth  to 
a  whole  system  of  doctrines  of  faith  alone.  Enoch,  the 
child  born,  means  these  doctrines.  This  is  known,  be- 
cause city  means  doctrines,  and  name,  quality  :  and  it 
is  said,  they  builded  a  city,  and  called  the  name  of  the 
city  after  the  name  of  their  son,  Enoch.  The  birth  of 
Enoch,  therefore,  is  the  establishment  of  these  doc- 
trines of  faith  alone.  And  the  building  of  the  city  is 
the  arrangement  of  these  doctrines  into  a  system  of 
faith. 


254  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH  J 

And  now  the  history  goes  on,  showing  the  offspring 
of  Enoch,  and  his  descendents,  called  Irad,  and  Mehu- 
jael,  and  Methusael,  and  Lamech,  &c.  But  these  are 
only  new  rules  and  principles  of  the  church  which  origi- 
nated in  their  new  system  of  doctrines.  But  all  these 
new  efforts  and  inventions  did  not  restore  order  and 
peace  to  that  ancient  people.  The  loss  of  Abel  could 
not  be  made  up  by  all  the  devices  of  the  head  or  faith 
alone.  Where  charity,  the  very  soul  and  life  of  society, 
is  wanting,  there  is  a  vacuum  which  nothing  can  fill. 
And  this  want  was  fast  pervading  the  whole  Adamic 
people — all  the  human  race  of  that  age. 

Under  this  state  of  things,  something  further  must 
be  done.  Matters  could  not  go  on  much  longer  in  this 
way,  and  be  endurable.  Therefore,  it  is  written  that 
"  Adam  knew  his  wife  again  ;  and  she  bare  a  son,  and 
called  his  name  Seth  :  for  God,  said  she,  hath  appointed 
me  another  seed  instead  of  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew." 

Here  the  general  church  devised  a  new  doctrine  or 
way,  which  could  supply  the  place  of  their  lost  charity 
or  Abel.  This  new  son,  Seth,  or  truth  of  doctrine, 
brought  forth  by  the  united  wisdom  and  love  of  the 
church,  was  Good  Works.  This  son,  Seth,  which  was 
given  by  the  Lord,  instead  of  charity,  was  not  charity 
itself,  if  it  had  been  it  would  have  been  called  Abel. 
But  it  was  given  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  charity 
to  the  people,  for  it  was  given  in  Abel's  stead.  And 
the  divine  object  was  thereby  accomplished.  For  the 
history  says  that,  to  Seth  was  born  a  son,  and  they 
called  his  name  Enos  ;  and  that  then  began  men  to 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  LORD. 


CAIN'S  WIFE  AND  ENOCH.  255 

Thus  Seth  or  good  works  brought  forth  love  to  God 
and  the  neighbor.  For  to  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord 
is  to  receive  His  quality.  And  this  quality  includes 
mercy  and  kindness  toward  all.  Thus  we  see  here  veri- 
fied the  great  truth,  taught  by  our  Lord,  that,  if  we 
would  enter  into  life,  we  must  keep  the  commandments. 
The  Adamic  church  could  not  stand  without  the  doc- 
trine of  works  as  a  basis.  When  they  found  them- 
selves rapidly  falling,  they  established  the  doctrines  of 
faith  and  charity  ;  and  supposed  these  were  rules  of 
life  enough.  But  faith  and  charity  cannot  stand  un- 
less they  are  ultimatcd  and  grounded  in  works.  Unless 
the  works  of  faith  and  charity  are  kindly  performed, 
Faith  will  surely  slay  his  brother  Charity. 

We  now  see  why  Adam  gave  names  to  only  three 
children,  Faith,  Charity  and  Works.  It  is  because  he 
was  the  church  ;  and  faith,  charity  and  works  embrace 
everything  of  the  church.  They  are  from  the  three 
great  fundamental  principles — Wisdom,  Love  and 
Power.  The  doctrine  of  works  is  the  doctrine  of  charity 
in  action.  And  if  we  are  not  charitable,  but  have 
natural  faith  enough  to  see  that  we  ought  to  be  so,  and 
will  then  do  the  works  of  charity,  we  shall  become  so. 
We  now  see  the  necessity  of  protecting  Cain  or  Faith 
after  he  had  slain  his  brother.  For  without  the  natu- 
ral truth  of  faith,  we  could  not  perform  good  works, 
and  thus  be  brought  into  the  love  of  the  neighbor,  and 
thereby  obtain  charity,  and  thence  true  spiritual  faith. 

The  lesson  we  draw  from  this  history  is  twofold. 
First,  that,  if  we  cease  to  give  to  God  the  firstlings  of 
our  flock,  or  our  best  affections,  and  trust  to  our  own 


256  CAIN,    ABEL    AND    SETH. 

faith,  we  shall  lose  our  charity,  fall  into  a  false  and 
lifeless  state  of  mind,  and  establish  ourselves  in  false 
doctrines  :  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  we  shall  slay 
our  brother  Abel,  remove  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  to  the  land  of  Nod,  marry  a  wife  and  build  a  city. 
And  from  this  deplorable  condition  we  can  never  be 
removed  unless,  in  the  second  place,  there  be  born  unto 
us,  Seth,  or  good  works,  and  we  return  to  the  presence 
of  our  God,  in  humble  obedience  to  His  commandments. 
Then  will  brother  Abel  be  restored  to  our  bosom,  and 
his  blood  will  no  longer  cry  unto  us  from  the  ground. 


CHAPTEK  XV. 

A     GLANCE     AT    GOD,    MAN     AND     NATURE,    AND    THEIR 
RELATIVE    CONNECTION. 

"In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth." 
(Gen.  i.  1.) 

WE  are  now  to  take  a  general  glance  at  the  whole 
subject  of  these  lectures — God,  Man  and  Nature,  and 
their  relative  connection,  as  seen  in  the  divine  lan- 
guage. It  is  a  vast  theme.  We  can  only  glance 
slightly  over  some  of  its  leading  features. 

The  subject  necessarily  commences  with  God.  He  is 
the  Great  Centre,  the  Fountain  from  which  everything 
else  proceeds.  But  here  we  must  remember  that, 
though  we  commence  with  the  Most  High,  yet  we  do 
not  see  the  Summit.  That  holy  Source  of  all  being, 
the  infinite  Jehovah,  as  He  is  in  Himself,  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  highest  finite  conception  or  imagination. 
No  rational  thought  can  possibly  be  had  of  Him,  by 
any  man  or  angel,  except  as  He  lets  His  qualities  down 
to  our  capacities,  by  clothing  them  in  finite  things. 
And  then  they  can  be  seen  only  by  the  science  of  cor- 
respondences or  law  of  analogy. 

This  law  is  the  relation  which  exists  between  Him 


258  GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

and  His  Works,  and  His  Word  and  man.  In  them,  by 
correspondences,  we  look  towards  Him,  and  get  finite 
but  true  thoughts  of  His  qualities.  For  all  His 
works  are  finite.  He  has  never  made  anything  infinite  ; 
nor  can  He  :  for  infinity  can  neither  be  added  to  nor 
created.  It  is  self-existent  and  all.  There  can  be  no 
more.  Yet  millions  of  new  finite  things  can  be  con- 
stantly created  from  It  every  moment,  for  ever,  without 
lessening  Its  varieties  or  quantity  :  and  all  these  things 
are  pointing,  by  correspondences,  to  qualities  of  the  Di- 
vine Being.  We  may  therefore  talk  about  God,  we 
may  use  the  word  "  Infinite,"  but  we  know  not  what  it 
means.  We  cannot  grasp  the  full  idea  it  is  intended 
to  convey. 

Yet,  high  and  holy  as  Jehovah  is  Himself,  we  can 
know  of  Him.  We  can  feel  from  his  love,  think  from 
His  wisdom,  and  act  from  His  power.  We  can  reason 
and  philosophize  upon  His  qualities  and  laws,  as  they 
are  symbolized  in  the  innumerable  varieties  of  the 
qualities,  forms  and  uses  of  natural  things.  But  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  the  science  of  correspondences  and 
of  the  Holy  Word  we  cannot  thus  philosophize.  We 
can  draw  no  rational  idea  of  God's  nature  and  charac- 
ter from  looking  into  the  things  of  nature  and  the  hu- 
man family  on  earth,  as  they  appear  to  any  natural 
mind  unacquainted  with  the  true  Divine  Language  or 
Word.  No  matter  how  strong  the  man's  intellect, 
nor  how  active  and  powerful  his  reasoning  faculties, 
nor  how  extensive  and  profound  his  other  education,  if 
he  is  ignorant  of  the  law  of  analogy  and  of  the  divine 
Word  thereby,  lie  can  draw  from  the  world  and  its  in- 


GOD,  MAN   AND    NATURE.  259 

habitants,  with  all  their  mixed  and  contradictory  char- 
acters, none  but  blind  and  erroneous  ideas  of  the  Bein«- 

'  O 

who  brought  them  into  existence.  What,  he  asks, 
mean  the  tempests  and  convulsions,  the  blights  and 
mildews  of  nature  ;  the  raving  madness  of  her  animals 
and  wild  beasts  ;  the  poisonous  venom  of  her  reptiles  ; 
and  the  deceit,  murder  and  vengeance  of  her  people  ? 
Is  this  the  work  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Goodness  ? 
It  cannot  be  !  Thus  he  reasons.  Indeed,  the  ten- 
dency of  the  whole  scene  would  be  to  confound  and 
darken  his  mind,  upon  the  subject  of  an  infinite 
Creator,  and  to  lead  it  down  to  blind  nature,  as  the 
self-existent  and  all  in  all  :  thus  he  would  rest  in  ma- 
terialism ;  and  suppose  that  this  life  would  terminate 
his  own  existence. 

Fallen  man  can  never  know  himself  without  instruc- 
tions from  his  God.  Therefore  God  has  always  pro- 
vided him  with  divine  laws,  for  his  guidance  and  im- 
provement, suited  to  his  state.  But,  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  Holy  Word,  as  for  many  years  popularly  taught, 
there  is  universally  acknowledged  to  be  much  mystery. 
With  this  want  of  light,  the  honest,  independent, 
thinking  minds  of  this  reason-asking  age,  are  not  satis- 
fied. Therefore  they  give  the  Bible  up  as  incompre- 
hensible, and  consequently,  of  doubtful  origin  and  au- 
thority. And  having  nowhere  else  to  go  they  fall  into 
an  honest  skepticism.  For  such  minds  I  have  a  most 
profound  respect  and  sympathy  :  for  I  know  their  so- 
licitude and  suspense.  They  would  be  glad  of  light  ; 
but  it  must  be  a  light  which  answers  the  demands  of  their 
reason  and  judgment,  They  can  receive  nothing  else. 


260  GOD;    MAN   AND    NATURE. 

That  light  G-od  is  now,  in  mercy,  offering  to  them,  in 
His  Holy  Word,  through  the  law  of  analogy.  There 
'  they  will  find,  as  far  as  they  are  able  to  see  it,  God's 
true  and  loving  character  ;  and  also  man's.  All  dis- 
cords will  be  satisfactorily  explained  :  the  origin  and 
nature  of  evil  clearly  pointed  out  ;  the  infinite  mercy 
and  goodness  of  God  strongly  verified  ;  and,  as  they 
progress,  God  will  make  darkness  light  before  them  and 
crooked  things  straight.  These  things  will  He  do  unto 
them,  and  will  not  forsake  them. 

In  commencing  with  God,  in  this  lecture,  we  have 
rightly  regarded  Him  as  one,  the  Infinite,  the  Centre, 
the  Source.  But  in  that  oneness,  there  is  nothing  in 
all  creation,  that  fully  corresponds  to  Him.  If  man 
had  never  sinned  and  nothing  had  been  perverted,  and  all 
things  in  nature  were  in  true  order,  the  whole  universe, 
collectively,  would  correspond  to  God,  so  far  as  He 
had  manifested  His  various  qualities  in  the  creation  of 
angels,  men  and  things.  But  even  that  vast  whole 
would  be  but  a  very  imperfect  symbol  of  the  Lord,  be- 
cause the  creation  is  a  continuous  work,  to  go  on  for 
ever  ;  and  every  step  presents  new  principles  of  the 
divine  nature. 

Creeping  things,  then,  are  but  correspondences  of 
principles  in  God,  or  in  man.  And  although  the  va- 
rieties, in  God's  principles,  are  infinite,  yet  they  are 
divided  into  three  distinct  classes  which  relate  to  the 
three  divine  essentials  in  God — Love,  Wisdom  and 
Power.  It  is  therefore  to  something  in  these  principles 
that  every  created  thing  corresponds,  either  directly  or 
indirectly.  For  the  two  great,  primary  elements,  are 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  261 

Love  and  Wisdom.  Their  action  is  Power.  And  as 
they  produce  everything,  all  unperverted  things  must 
symbolize  something  of  those  elements.  The  number 
three,  therefore,  is  a  full,  perfect,  and  peculiar  number: 
it  has  relation  to  everything,  either  in  the  complex  or 
in  the  particulars. 

It  will  aid  us  much,  in  our  general  glance  at  the  re- 
lation between  God,  man  and  nature,  by  correspond- 
ence, to  understand  the  number  'Three.'  The  num- 
ber '  One'  denotes  God.  He  is  first.  Here  is  the  be- 
ginning. And  as  numbers,  with  the  ancients,  signified 
qualities,  so  number  one  necessarily  denoted  God.  This 
correspondence  has  never  been  fully  lost.  We  speak  of 
the  first  man  in  town  ;  or  the  first  scholar  in  the  class. 
But  when  we  turn  from  individuals  to  principles,  num- 
ber one  denotes  Love.  Love  is  the  first  principle  in  ex- 
istence. It  is  the  first  principle  in  God  ;  and  the  first 
principle  in  man.  It  is  the  vital  spring  of  all  thought 
and  action  ;  it  is  the  very  life  element.  The  next 
principle  in  existence  is  Wisdom.  Wisdom  therefore 
is  number  'Two  ;'  or  two  denotes  wisdom  in  its  rela- 
tion to  God.  But  where  now  is  the  one  ?  We  readily 
see  that  it  is  involved  in  the  two.  As  we  cannot  have 
two  things  without  having  one,  so  neither  can  we  have 
true  wisdom  without  having  love.  The  next  principle 
in  existence,  after  love  and  wisdom,  is  power.  Power, 
therefore,  is  number  three  ;  or  three  denotes  power  in 
its  relation  to  God.  But  where  now  are  the  one  and 
two  ?  They  are  of  course  involved  in  the  three.  For 
we  cannot  have  three  without  having  two  and  one. 

This  love,  wisdom  and  power  then,  are  inseparable. 


262  GOD;    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

Love  without  wisdom  could  not  think.  Wisdom  with- 
out love  could  not  feel.  And  the  two  without  power 
could  not  act.  Thus  a  regenerated  man  is  in  the  image 
of  God.  His  truth  or  faith  is  from  God's  wisdom  ;  his 
goodness  or  charity  is  from  God's  love  ;  and  his  use  or 
works,  is  from  God's  power.  Thus  the  trine  in  man 
eorresponds  to  the  trine  in  God.  And  this  trine  extends 
through  every  created  thing.  For  no  single  thing  exists 
without  having,  within  it,  something  from  God's  love, 
wisdom  and  power.  For,  as  love,  wisdom  and  power 
are  inseparable,  so  the  very  life  which  constantly  flows 
from  God  into  every  created  thing,  must  contain  all 
these  elements,  in  some  of  their  infinite  varieties.  And 
the  love  is  manifested  in  the  substance  ;  the  wisdom, 
in  the  form  ;  and  the  power,  in  the  use  of  the  thing. 

Thus,  God,  in  His  love,  wisdom  and  power,  is  con- 
nected with  every  single  thing  in  the  vast  universe. 
But  how  ?  Through  man.  The  first  and  highest  re- 
ceptacle of  God's  love  is  the  human  will  ;  of  His  wis- 
dom, the  human  understanding  ;  and  of  his  power,  hu- 
man action.  These  divine  elements,  then,  before  they 
can  become  the  life  of  the  material  universe,  must  pass 
through  the  minds  of  angels  and  men.  God  is  the 
great  centre  of  all  being,  sending  forth  the  principles 
of  life  in  every  direction,  as  the  sun  sends  forth  his 
beams.  Around  Him,  and  nearest  to  Him,  are  the 
purest  minds  ;  and  the  farther  a  mind  is  from  Him, 
the  less  pure  it  is.  All  are  arranged  in  regular  dis- 
tances according  to  their  qualities.  Through  these 
minds,  in  orderly  succession,  the  stream  of  life  flows, 
clothing  itself,  at  every  step,  with  the  quality  of  the 


GOD;    MAN   AND   NATURE.  263 

mind  it  is  traversing,  which  adapts  it  to  the  state  of  the 
next.  Thus  it  comes  from  God,  regularly  down 
through  the  various  beings,  celestial,  spiritual  and  na- 
tural, till  it  enters  men  on  earth  ;  they  clothe  it  with 
the  quality  of  their  own  will  and  understanding.  This 
gives  to  the  lower  orders  of  things,  man's  nature,  which 
makes  them  correspond  to  him.  Thus  there  is  a  regu- 
lar chain  of  correspondences,  or  law  of  analogy,  be- 
tween higher  things  and  lower  ;  connecting  them  all 
together.  Break  this  chain,  and  all  would  be  lost. 

But  some  men  say  they  do  not  believe  in  this 
influx  ;  that  it  is  something  new  and  visionary.  Is 
it  something  new  and  visionary,  that  the  Lord  is 
the  true  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world  ?  that  His  words  are  spirit  and  life  ? 
that  He  "giveth  life  unto  the  world"  ?  Is  this  some- 
thing new  ?  What  are  this  light  and  life  which  God 
giveth  to  the  world  ?  They  are  either  substance  or 
nothing.  If  they  are  not  real,  spiritual  substance  that 
can  enter  the  will  or  understanding,  and  thus  make  us 
feel  and  think,  they  are  nothing  but  vagaries  of  the  im- 
agination :  mere  empty  phantoms.  Indeed,  a  man 
must  know  that  spiritual  life  and  light  are  love  and 
wisdom,  or  goodness  and  truth,  before  he  can  have  a 
rational  thought  of  what  they  are.  And  then,  as  he 
learns  to  elevate  his  thoughts,  by  correspondences,  above 
gross  matter,  to  spiritual  things,  he  will  soon  be  con- 
vinced that  this  Love  and  Wisdom  are  the  real  Source 
of  all  substances,  and  the  very  elements  of  Jehovah. 

As  this  divine  love  flows  into  an  evil  man's  will,  it 
has,  all  the  way,  in  its  descent  from  God,  through  me- 
diums, been  clothed  in  lower  and  more  impure  substan- 


264  GOD;    MAN    AND    NATURE. 

ces,  until  the  evil  spirits  associated  with  the  man  adapt 
it  to  his  state.  And  though  the  inmost  of  this  influx 
is  pure  love  or  life  from  Grod,  yet  as  its  power  must  be 
acted  out  through  its  vile  covering,  the  influence,  as  it 
goes  forth,  will  be  evil.  And  as  it  flows  from  this  sel- 
fish, quarrelsome  will  into  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  it 
gives  poison  to  the  serpent's  tooth,  and  contention  to 
the  dogs  for  their  bones.  And  so  of  the  influx  through 
all  other  men's  minds,  according  to  their  various  quali- 
ties ;  some  adapting  it  to  the  lambs  and  doves,  some 
to  the  bears  and  wolves,  and  others  to  all  other  creatures 
and  things  :  little  children  being  the  medium  of  life  to 
lambs. 

Now,  from  a  little  reflection,  it  may  be  rationally 
seen  that  this  living  influx  from  the  Divine  Mind, 
must,  in  substance,  be  feelings  and  thoughts.  For 
what  else  can  mind  give  forth  ?  And  when  we,  in  this 
life,  give  true  thoughts  and  good  feelings  to  a  willing 
mind  that  has  not  before  received  them,  we  know  that 
that  mind  is  sensibly  affected  by  them.  Again,  we 
may  rationally  see  that  God's  thoughts  must  be  prin- 
ciples of  truth,  and  His  feelings,  principles  of  good- 
ness ;  and  that,  in  order  to  take  effect,  these  truths 
must  flow  into  understandings,  and  these  goods  into 
wills  ;  and  that  these  wills  and  understandings,  which 
first  receive  them  from  the  Lord,  must  be  of  a  very 
high  character,  in  order  to  appreciate  and  use  them. 
Thus  it  is  philosophical  and  rational  to  believe  that 
the  order  of  influx  is  from  higher  things  into  lower. 
And  who  does  not  see  that  every  man  gives  a  certain 
caste  or  coloring  to  what  passes  through  his  mind.  It 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  265 

does  not  go  out  as  it  comes  in.  He  puts  his  own  feel- 
ings into  it.  It  partakes  of  the  qualities  of  the  mind 
it  passes  through.  Thus,  let  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr. 
Clay  witness  the  same  event  ;  and  as  they  describe  it, 
it  comes  from  one  Websterized,  and  from  the  other 
Clayized. 

Now,  as  man  was  the  sole  object  of  the  creation,  being 
the  only  creature  endowed  with  rationality  and  free- 
dom, whereby  he  can  distinguish  between  right  and 
wrong,  good  and  evil,  truth  and  falsity  ;  and  thence 
be  capable  of  knowing  and  loving  his  God,  and  thereby 
becoming  connected  with  Him,  by  His  goodness  and 
truth  seen  and  loved,  and  thus  enjoying  heavenly  hap- 
piness and  living  forever  ;  so,  we  may  rationally  see 
that  this  freedom  necessarily  gave  man  the  power  of 
abusing  this  liberty  and  rationality,  by  an  evil  life,  so 
that  his  will  and  understanding  would  become  selfish 
and  deceitful,  and  thereby  change  the  character  of  the 
Divine  Influx,  and  give  to  the  lower  orders  of  things 
the  evil  and  quarrelsome  propensities  of  men.  Indeed 
this  is  the  only  rational  ground  of  the  origin  of  evil 
that  has  ever  been  suggested.  For,  upon  any  other 
ground,  God  is  the  direct  Author  of  it.  But,  upon 
this  true  ground,  it  sprang  from  the  abuse  of  those 
principles,  without  which  man  would  be  a  machine, 
destitute  of  freedom  or  reason. 

To  understand  our  subject,  then,  we  must  never  lose 
sight  of  the  Trine  of  first  principles  and  their  qualities. 
That  is  the  key  to  all  true  knowledge  of  spiritual 
things.  Everything  should  remind  us  of  it,  and  point 
us,  by  correspondence,  to  God,  in  His  Love,  Wisdom 

12 


266  GOD;    MAN    AND    NATUEE. 

and  Power.  God  is  the  life  of  the  universe  ;  the  All 
in  all  of  everything,  by  means  of  the  trine  of  essen- 
tials, seen  by  correspondence.  It  is  only  in  that  one 
great  idea,  that  we  can  have  a  rational  thought  of  God. 
It  is  only  in  a  true  idea  of  the  trine,  in  its  united 
substance  of  love  and  wisdom  in  action,  that  we  can 
rationally  see  God  in  nature  or  in  man,  and  know  that 
He  dwells  there. 

By  an  idea  of  the  trine  and  its  qualities,  we,  by  cor- 
respondence, can  see  God  in  the  sun,  the  earth,  the 
animal,  the  tree,  the  flower  ;  in  anything.  To  know 
a  thing  is  to  know  its  qualities.  The  idea  of  a  thing 
amounts  to  nothing,  if  that  idea  contains  no  thought 
of  its  qualities  :  for  it  then  has  nothing  in  it  but  dark- 
ness and  ignorance.  What  does  the  idea  of  life  amount 
to  if  we  do  not  know  that  it  is  love,  and  real  substance  ? 
Simply,  nothing.  For  a  want  of  substance  is  a  want 
of  everything.  How  long  the  learned  world  has  puz- 
zled itself  over  the  idea  of  life,  and  left  the  subject  as 
dark  as  they  found  it,  for  the  want  of  knowing  that  it 
was  something.  But  when  we  think  of  it  as  substan- 
tial love,  we  have  something  tangible  in  our  thought  ; 
something  that  we  can  feel  to  be  true.  And  what  can 
we  know  of  thought  until  we  see  that  it  is  something 
either  true  or  false,  exercised  or  moved  by  that  love  ? 
Indeed  we  see  nothing  right,  unless  our  thought  reaches 
back  to  God,  and  rests  in  the  Fountain — the  Great 
First  Cause — by  rational  correspondence. 

Without  the  great  truth  that  love  and  wisdom  are 
substance,  centred  in  God  and  flowing  into  man,  en- 
abling him  to  feel,  think  and  act,  men  have  supposed 


GOD.    MAN    AND    NATURE. 


that  thought  and  feeling  originate  in  the  brain  of  the 
material  body.  And  seeing  not  that  life  is  receivc-d 
substance  all  has  been  dark.  And  when  they  look  at 
nature,  and  behold  her  teeming  with  life,  in  all  its  va- 
rieties ;  and  have  no  idea  of  the  origin,  substance  and 
quality  of  that  life,  the  same  darkness  hangs  over  na- 
ture. And  when,  by  the  aid  of  natural  science,  they 
geologically  search  nature  for  the  first  manifestations  of 
this  life,  and  find  it,  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  in  the 
most  feeble  expressions  ;  it  seems  to  act  from  the  rock 
as  its  author.  They  next  see  it,  in  a  higher  and  stronger 
influence,  in  the  vegetable ;  still  higher  and  stronger  in 
the  animal ;  and  highest  and  strongest  of  all,  in  man. 
But  the  higher  things  seem  dependent  upon  the  lower 
for  their  life  and  existence  ;  and  all  upon  the  dead  cold 
mineral.  Thus  nature  appears  to  them  as  everything — 
the  very  mother  of  all — and  to  which  they  of  course 
must  return  at  death.  Here  all  is  total  darkness. 
They  see  not  how  lower  things  can  produce  the  higher  ; 
the  cold  dead  mineral  giving  forth  the  beautiful  vege- 
table, with  its  delicate  texture  and  velvet  flowers  ;  and 
the  insensitive  vegetable  giving  forth  living  creatures 
with  the  five  senses  of  animal  life  ;  and  man,  above  all, 
with  his  sublime  powers  of  mind,  resting  upon  these 
inferior  things,  as  his  origin. 

Alas  !  What  darkness  !  But  this  is  the  best  that 
nature  can  do.  Without  instruction  from  God,  man 
could  never  know  anything  higher.  But  with  the 
Holy  Word  before  him,  instead  of  looking  down  to  in- 
ert matter,  as  the  source  of  his  being,  he  can  look  up 
to  his  God.  And  by  a  knowledge  of  Him,  in  the  sub- 


268  GOD,   MAN   AND   NATURE. 

stance  and  qualities  of  the  trine,  a  flood  of  light,  by 
correspondence,  is  poured  into  his  inind.  He  sees  the 
stream  of  the  love,  wisdom  and  power  of  his  God, 
flowing  down  through  higher  things  into  lower,  till  it 
reaches  the  mineral  kingdom,  as  a  ground  of  reaction  ; 
when  it  returns  back  to  God,  in  the  gratitude,  love  and 
praise  of  human  hearts. 

This  trine  of  principles,  in  the  light  of  analogy,  is 
the  key  of  knowledge.  All  knowledge  is  of  and  from 
God.  It  is  He  that  breaks  the  seals  and  opens  the 
books ;  and  all  by  this  key  to  His  own  qualities.  From 
these  qualities  we  are  to  judge  of  the  qualities  of  every- 
thing, more  feebly  or  more  fully  expressed  in  some 
things  than  in  others  ;  and  in  either  direct  or  in- 
verted order.  Everything  charming  and  lovely  in  na- 
ture has  the  trine  there.  All  colors  are  from  heat, 
light  and  action.  The  heat  denoting  God's  love  ;  the 
light,  His  wisdom  ;  and  the  action,  His  power.  And 
those  divine  essentials  are  really  in  the  colors.  And  all 
their  beauty  is  from  the  presence  of  God.  Take  God's 
love,  wisdom  and  power  out  of  the  sun  and  it  would  be 
dark  and  powerless.  All  words  are  from  vowels,  con- 
sonants and  arrangements.  The  vowels  denote  love, 
the  consonants,  wisdom,  and  the  arrangement,  power. 
Thus  God  is  in  our  speech  in  every  word  we  utter. 
If  the  speech  be  false,  His  principles  are  perverted. 
He  is  also  in  the  feeling,  thought  and  action  which 
speak  the  word,  as  well  as  in  the  word  itself.  All 
music  is  from  tones,  sentiments  and  activities  ;  deno- 
ting love,  wisdom  and  power.  God  therefore  is  in 
all  music.  Every  thought  of  man  has  its  affection,  its 


GOD,    MAN    AND    NATURE.  269 

idea,  and  its  action.  The  divine  elements  are  there. 
Every  organ  of  the  body  or  mind  lias  its  form,  its  sub- 
stance, and  its  use,  and  points  to  God's  qualities. 
Everything  in  the  universe,  below  man,  has  in  it  some- 
thing from  man's  love,  wisdom  and  activity  ;  and,  by 
real  substance,  corresponds  to  something  in  man  ;  and 
also  to  something  in  God  ;  either  in  direct  or  in  in- 
verted order. 

The  highest  symbol  of  God  in  any  one  thing,  except 
the  human  mind — the  highest  symbol  of  Him  in  na- 
ture is  the  sun  ;  the  heat  denoting  His  love,  the  light, 
His  wisdom,  and  their  action,  His  power.  And  when 
we  consider  the  sun  as  corresponding  to  God,  and  the 
earth  to  man,  we  have  a  broad  field  for  contemplation, 
and  one  which  throws  much  light  upon  the  under- 
standing of  the  Holy  Word. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  similitude  between  the  earth 
and  the  mind.  The  first  general  division  of  the  earth 
is  into  land  and  water  :  that  of  the  mind  into  will  and 
understanding.  The  land  denotes  the  good  or  evil 
ground  of  the  will,  and  the  water  the  truth  or  falsity 
of  the  understanding.  The  land  can  produce  nothing 
without  water  :  nor  can  the  will  without  the  under- 
standing. Goodness  can  do  nothing  without  truth, 
nor  evil  without  falsity.  But  even  the  land  and  wa- 
ter together  can  produce  nothing  of  themselves  alone. 
They  must  have  the  heat  and  light  of  the  sun.  So 
also  must  the  will  and  understanding  of  man  have  the 
love  and  wisdom  of  God — the  divine  influx — or  they 
can  do  nothing.  The  land  and  water  of  the  earth  -de- 
note the  will  and  understanding  of  the  external  mind, 


270  GOD;  MAN    AND    NATURE. 

or  the  natural  good  and  truth,  which  are  in  them.  To 
be  truly  alive  and  productive  in  heavenly  things,  this 
natural  will  and  understanding  must  receive  spiritual 
goods  and  truths  from  the  internal  mind.  This  inter- 
nal mind  is  represented  by  the  natural  heavens,  with 
the  sun,  moon  and  stars.  The  sun  denoting  the  Lord, 
the  moon,  faith  in  Him,  and  the  stars,  knowledges  of 
His  commandments. 

And  how  forcibly  does  the  power  of  these  divine 
principles,  from  our  internal  mind,  operating  upon  our 
external,  correspond  to  the  influence  of  those  heavenly 
bodies,  upon  the  earth,  without  which  it  would  be  ut- 
terly unfruitful.  Thus  the  correspondences  between 
the  physical  universe  and  the  human  mind  arc  every- 
where, most  perfect,  not  only  in  generals  but  in  par- 
ticulars. And  it  is  necessarily  so,  because  the  elements 
of  the  human  mind  are  the  living  elements  of  the  uni- 
verse, by  regular  influx  : — first  God,  then  man,  then 
nature  :  Man  the  connecting  link  between  God  above 
him,  and  Nature  below  him  :  Man  having  two  minds 
— an  internal  and  an  external — one  connecting  him  with 
God  and  heaven,  the  other  with  the  earth  and  nature  : 
Nature  the  mirror  of  man,  in  which  he  may  see  re- 
flected, every  quality  of  his  soul,  to  the  very  life  :  and 
God,  in  His  Holy  Word,  holding  that  mirror  up  before 
our  face,  in  every  page,  from  Genesis  to  Eevelation, 
showing  us  thereby,  a  full-length  portrait  of  humanity 
in  its  creation,  its  fall,  and  its  regeneration.  And  the 
particular  character  of  each  individual,  from  infancy  to 
his  present  moment ;  and  even  his  future  path  which 
will  make  him  either  an  angel  or  an  evil  spirit,  is  also 


GOD,  MAN    AND    NATURE.  271 

clearly  delineated.  He  sees  clearly  which  way  to  go 
and  what  to  do  ;  and  that,  in  legible  characters,  im- 
perishable words,  written  by  the  eternal  law  of  anal- 
ogy. So  full  and  perfect  is  this  delineation,  that  a 
man  well  versed  in  the  science  of  correspondences  and 
a  knowledge  of  the  Word,  and  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
Jesus,  will  yet  look  upon  the  page  of  nature,  in  the 
light  of  analogy,  and  read  therein,  his  soul's  history 
written  by  his  own  hand,  recorded  by  his  own  life, 
in  all  its  lights  and  shades,  whether  good  or  evil.  If 
he  sees  two  animals  fighting,  he  will  know  whether  it  is 
through  his  disposition  that  they  are  stimulated  to 
quarrel.  If  he  loves  to  see  them  fight  his  own  soul  is 
in  the  combat. 

These  are  the  glorious  truths  which  will  yet  lift  the 
veil  from  human  hearts  and  minds  ;  bring  the  world  to- 
gether in  wisdom  and  love  ;  break  the  shackles  from 
every  heart  ;  banish  discords  from  all  bosoms  ;  open 
every  prison  door  ;  loose  every  captive  ;  discharge  all 
jailors  and  hangmen  ;  do  away  with  courts  and  juries; 
make  every  man  a  judge  and  a  peace  officer,  with  a  juris- 
diction extending  over  all  his  own  life  and  conduct,  sub- 
mitting himself,  with  gladness  and  delight  to  the  divine 
government,  in  all  those  precious  golden  rules  of  life, 
which  fill  the  soul  with  love  to  God  and  good  will  toward 
men.  Then  will  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  cover  the 
earth,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  ;  tears  will  be  wiped 
from  off  all  faces;  the  kingdom  of  God  will  be  here;  and 
His  Will  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    KESTORATION    OF    THE    SCIENCE     OF     CORRESPOND- 
ENCES. 

"  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."     (Rev.  xxi.  5.) 

OUR  present  theme  is  the  way  and  manner  in  which 
the  long  lost  Science  of  Correspondences  has  been  re- 
stored, and  thereby,  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word 
and  the  life  of  its  doctrines,  revealed. 

1863  years  ago,  when  our  Lord  made  His  appearance 
in  the  flesh,  human  nature  was  at  its  lowest  state  of 
sin  and  depravity.  To  this  wretched  condition  the  race 
had  gradually  fallen,  during  thousands  of  years,  from 
a  state  of  innocence  and  virtue  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 

In  his  highest  primeval  condition,  man's  mind  was  in 
true  order.  He  saw  from  internals  to  externals.  He 
saw  effects  from  the  causes  which  produced  them.  He 
saw  the  world  of  matter  as  an  outbirth  from  the  world 
of  mind.  In  seeing  this,  he  saw  that  a  perfect  analogy 
existed  between  material  and  mental  things.  He 
therefore  saw  the  qualities  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  God  and  man  perfectly  represented  in  the  material 
forms  around  him.  He  saw  that  material  things  could 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  273 

not  possibly  exist  but  as  the  effects  of  will  and  wisdom 
from  above  ;  and  that,  therefore,  they  must  be  true 
manifestations  of  that  will  and  wisdom. 

In  aAA  this,  he  saw  the  true  language  ;  the  divine  lan- 
guage ;  the  hieroglyphic  language  ;  the  only  universal 
language  ;  the  first  written  language  ;  the  only  undis- 
guised and  certain  expression  of  thoughts  and  feelings. 

But,  in  this  clear  preception  of  things,  man  had  but 
a  mere  shade  of  will  and  thought  of  his  own.  He  felt 
and  saw,  almost  exclusively,  from  the  divine  love  and 
wisdom.  His  mind  was  but  little  else  than  a  mere  un- 
developed vessel,  receiving  goodness  and  truth  from  the 
Lord,  and  giving  them  forth  in  feelings  and  thoughts. 

Yet  he  had  a  selfhood  given  him,  that  he  might  be 
something  more  than  a  mere  machine  :  for,  without  this 
selfhood,  he  would  have  been  incapable  of  progress  and 
rational  enjoyment ;  therefore  he  would  not  have  been 
a  man.  The '  essence  of  this  selfhood  was  rationality 
and  freedom  ;  reason  to  determine,  and  freedom  to  act, 
as  a  distinct  individual. 

In  consequence  of  this  selfhood,  it  appeared  to  man 
as  though  the  wisdom  and  love  by  which  he  saw  and 
acted  were  his  own  ;  but  he  was  also  capable  of  under- 
standing that  this  will  and  wisdom  were  not  entirely  his 
own,  but  were  principally  the  Lord's.  The  truth  is, 
this  selfhood  gave  him  a  will  and  understanding  as  his 
own  ;  but,  in  this  intuitive  condition,  this  will  and  un- 
derstanding were  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  divine 
love  and  wisdom,  and  acted  with  them.  Yet  it  ap- 
peared to  man  as  though  he  were  thinking  and  acting 
entirely  from  his  own  free-will. 

12* 


274  RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES. 

This  selfhood,  therefore,  necessarily  made  man  free  to 
reason  and  act,  either  as  from  his  own  will  and  wisdom, 
or  as  from  the  Lord's  ;  and,  as  it  seemed  to  him  that 
he  felt  and  acted  entirely  from  himself,  his  selfhood 
made  him  capable  of  using  the  Lord's  love  and  wisdom 
as  his  own,  and  of  falling,  hy  habit,  into  the  selfish 
belief  that  they  were  really  his  own,  and  that  he  was 
perfectly  competent  to  manage  his  own  affairs  himself. 
Therefore,  in  the  ability  to  look  to  the  Lord,  and  pro- 
gress upwards,  was  the  ability  to  look  to  himself,  and 
decline  into  evil.  Man  was  free  to  take  either  course. 
He  took  the  latter.  Hence  the  long  progressive  fall, 
from  the  primeval  age  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the 
flesh. 

In  this  downward  process,  man  lost  the  divine  lan- 
guage, founded  on  the  science  of  correspondences  ;  and 
with  it  he  lost  all  true  knowledge  of  the  world  of  causes, 
or  of  the  laws  of  creation,  and  the  relation  between 
mind  and  matter.  He  entirely  lost  his  internal  stand- 
point, where  he  could  see  in  unison  with  God's  wis- 
dom ;  and  he  took  his  position  in  the  dark,  sensual  de- 
pravity of  the  external  mind,  where  he  saw  things,  not 
as  they  really  were,  but  only  as  they  appeared  to  be. 
Thus  everything  in  his  nature  had  become  perverted. 
He  saw  himself  as  the  very  centre  of  all  being,  and 
the  universe  as  the  circumference  •  and  thus  he  was 
about  to  perish  for  the  want  of  light  and  life. 

In  this  state  of  things,  our  heavenly  Father,  that  He 
might  restore  man  again  to  order  and  true  life,  came 
and  took  his  central  position  again  in  our  nature.  He 
took  upon  Himself,  by  conception  and  birth,  human 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  275 

nature,  in  the  omega,  as  it  then  was.  He  became  again 
the  centre,  and  that  humanity,  the  circumference.  Still, 
that  humanity,  as  assumed,  had  a  will  not  in  harmony 
with  the  divine  will.  It  still  had  its  own  centre  in  the 
circumference  of  things,  and  its  natural  inclination  was 
to  look  and  act  from  that  apparent  centre.  But,  by 
its  connection  with  the  Great  Divine  Centre,  it  was 
enabled  gradually  to  change  its  position,  and  to  see 
from  the  divine  will  and  wisdom. 

This  was  effected  by  its  yielding  up  its  own  will  to  the 
divine  will,  in  the  midst  of  temptations  and  trials,  until 
everything  in  that  nature  which  was  impure  and  un- 
godly was  seen  by  that  nature  in  the  divine  light,  as  not 
good,  and  freely  rejected,  and  put  away.  Thus  that 
nature,  by  free-will  and  consent,  became  perfected  and 
gloriled,  and  made  one  with  the  Father  ;  the  whole 
having  one  will,  and  that  will  divine — the  very  Centre 
of  all  existences. 

Thus,  having  conquered  and  overcome  all  evil  influ- 
ences in  our  nature  and  come  near  to  us  in  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  gospel,  the  Lord  was  able  to  reach  and 
draw  all  men  toward  Him,  who  would  yield  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  truth  of  His  Word.  But  men  were  then 
so  low,  sensual,  and  natural,  that  they  could  not  re- 
ceive spiritual  truth.  They  could  not  be  at  once  ele- 
vated into  the  spiritual  light  of  causes,  where  they 
could  look  down  again  upon  effects,  and  see  them  in 
their  true  light.  They  had,  therefore,  to  be  reached  in 
the  circumference  where  they  were.  Here  they  could 
be  reached  only  by  natural  truth  and  good  ;  and  to>  ef- 
fect even  this,  they  had  to  be  overawed  by  the  power 
of  the  Lord's  miracles,  and  forced  into  an  assent  and 


276  RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES. 

submission  to  things  "which  they  did  rot  understand. 
But  by  their  faith  in  the  power  of  the  Lord,  and  obe- 
dience to  His  commandments,  thc}r,  by  actual  experi- 
ence, gradually  saw  and  felt  the  truth  and  goodness 
arising  from  righteousness  of  life,  repented  of  their  nat- 
ural evils,  and,  in  their  degree,  became  regenerated. 

Some  of  tho  disciples  appear  to  have  had,  at  times, 
glimpses  of  higher  light  ;  but  they  could  not  retain  it, 
and  the  simple  letter  of  the  Word — the  natural  truth 
— was  all  that  they  could  bear.  But  it  is  very  certain 
that  some  of  the  most  spiritually-minded  of  the  disci- 
ples and  early  fathers  of  the  church  were  sensible  that 
there  must  be  some  higher  meaning  to  the  Word  than 
the  letter  ;  but  the  subject  was  so  new,  so  high,  and  so 
vast,  that  their  natural  state  could  not  receive  it.  The 
Christian  church,  therefore,  settled  down  upon  the  lit- 
eral sense  of  the  Word,  with  wholesome  doctrines 
drawn  therefrom  ;  and  all  who  have  sincerely  received 
these  literal  truths,  faithfully  repented  of  their  sins, 
and  regulated  their  lives  by  the  commandments, 
through  faith  in  the  Lord,  have  found  their  way  to 
happiness  and  heaven. 

But,  not  being  able  to  receive  spiritual  truths,  this 
state  of  things  did  not  last,  as  the  Savior  declared  that 
it  would  not.  The  dark  ages  came  on.  The  church 
declined  in  doctrines  and  in  life.  "  The  traditions  of 
men  made  the  commandments  of  God  of  none  effect." 
Schisms  and  division  ensued,  carrying  martyrdom, 
bloodshed,  fire,  and  fagot  in  their  train,  until  the 
people  were  anything  else  than  the  followers  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  loving  their  enemies,  and  ren- 
dering good  for  evil. 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  277 

This  crisis  was  reached  about  one  hundred  years  ago  ; 
and  the  Lord  declares  of  it  in  Matt.  xxiv.  22,  that 
"  except  those  days  should  be  shortened,  there  should 
no  flesh  be  saved."  Under  this  state  of  things,  what 
could  be  done  ?  The  true  nature  of  God  had  been  lost 
sight  of,  and  the  true  way  of  life.  All  the  doctrines  of 
the  Word  were  falsified.  How  could  man  be  reached  ? 
Nothing  short  of  an  entire  new  light,  differing  in  toto 
from  anything  the  world  then  had,  could  elevate  the 
race.  They  wanted  a  new  God,  a  new  Bible,  new  doc- 
trines, and  new  truths,  before  they  could  be  moved  one 
step  upwards.  And  yet  all  the  needed,  new  life,  and 
light,  and  doctrines  were  in  the  old  Bible  before  them  ; 
but  they  could  not  see  them. 

But,  though  they  had  been  becoming  blind  to  the 
true  light  of  the  gospel,  yet  men  had  been  making  rapid 
progress  in  natural  science.  Their  natural  faculties, 
and  powers  of  reasoning,  had  become  greatly  developed; 
and  many  were  becoming  prepared  to  look  for  some  ra- 
tional ground  of  religious  faith.  Nothing  else  could 
now  reach  their  wants.  Human  nature  had  grown  up 
to  natural  manhood.  Its  intellectual  eyes,  in  the  nat- 
ural plane,  were  opened  ;  and  it  was  asking  for  light 
in  matters  of  religion  as  well  as  science.  Marvel  and 
mystery  could  no  longer  satisfy  or  control  the  free  mind, 
and  there  were  some  living  remnants  in  fragmentary 
Israel  who  were  hungering  and  thirsting  for  something 
to  satisfy  the  longing  soul.  But  they  knew  not  what 
it  was,  nor  where  to  find  it.  The  period  had,  therefore, 
fully  come,  when  something  new  must  be  done,  and 
when  something  new  could  be  done. 


278  RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES. 

There  were  minds  now  that  could  begin  to  receive  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word,  if  it  could  only  be  brought 
scientifically  before  them.  This  sense  was  the  only 
thing  that  could  lead  their  thoughts  to  the  true  God, 
give  them  right  views  of  His  nature,  and  faith  in  His 
Holy  Word.  The  lost  Science  of  Correspondences  was 
the  only  key  to  that  spiritual  sense  that  would  fit  their 
minds.  If  that  science  could  be  brought  rationally 
before  the  minds  of  .men,  so  as  to  enable  them,  from 
their  low,  natural  position,  to  look  understandingly  up 
through  the  world  of  eifects  to  the  world  of  causes — 
through  natural  things  to  spiritual,  material  to  mental, 
— so  as  to  see  and  receive  spiritual  light  from  the  Holy 
Word,  then  the  human  race  on  earth  could  be  gradu- 
ally elevated  to  heavenly  order  and  happiness  ;  other- 
wise man  must  perish.  "  Except  these  days  should  be 
shortened,  no  flesh  should  be  saved." 

By  the  use,  then,  of  the  key  of  correspondences,  the 
seals  of  the  Word  could  be  broken,  and  the  Book 
opened.  But  who  was  able  to  do  it  ?  None  but  the 
"  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah'could  prevail  to  open  the 
Book,  and  loose  the  seals  thereof."  The  seals  were  all 
in  the  human  mind.  It  was  sealed  with  seven  seals  ; 
that  is,  every  state  of  the  human  mind  was  closed 
against  spiritual  light.  Man  was  altogether  natural. 
But  there  were  some  minds  in  a  religious  state  of  nat- 
ural good,  and  in  such  a  state  of  natural-rational  free- 
dom as  to  be  able  to  have  their  minds  opened  by  in- 
struction from  the  Lord,  so  as  to  see  spiritual  light 
through  natural  symbols,  could  they  be  so  instructed. 

But  how  was  this  mighty  work  to  be  done  ?     How 


EESTOEATIOX   OF   CORBESPOXDEXCES.  279 

was  the  human  mind  to  be  opened  and  instructed,  so 
as  to  behold  the  wonderful  things  written  in  God's  law ; 
to  see  the  glory  of  the  world  of  causes,  and  to  look 
down  upon  effects,  and  see  them  as  they  really  are? 
EMAXUEL  SWEDEXBOKG  tells  us  in  T.  C.  R.  779,  where 
he  says,  "  That  this  second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  effected 
by  means  of  a  man,  before  whom  he  has  manifested 
himself,  and  whom  he  has  filled  with  his  Spirit,  to  teach 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  through  the  Word 
from  him. 

"  Since  the  Lord  cannot  manifest  himself  in  person, 
as  has  been  shown  just  above,  and  yet  he  has  foretold 
that  he  would  come  and  establish  a  New  Church,  which 
is  the  New  Jerusalem,  it  follows  that  he  is  to  do  it  by 
means  of  a  man,  who  is  able  not  only  to  receive  the  doc- 
trines of  this  church  with  the  understanding,  but  also 
to  publish  them  by  the  press.  That  the  Lord  has  mani- 
fested himself  before  me,  his  servant,  and  sent  me  on 
this  office,  and  that,  after  this  he  opened  the  sight  of  my 
spirit,  and  thus  let  me  into  the  spiritual  world,  and  gave 
me  to  see  the  heavens  and  the  hells,  and  also  to  speak 
with  angels  and  spirits,  and  this  now  continually  for 
many  years,  I  testify  in  truth  ;  and  also  that,  from  the 
first  day  of  that  call,  I  have  not  received  any  thing 
which  pertains  to  the  doctrines  of  that  church  from 
any  angel,  but  from  the  Lord  alone,  while  I  read  the 
Word." 

Thus  Swedenborg  was  the  chosen  servant  of  the 
Lord.  He  had  revered  the  Lord  and  the  Word  from 
his  youth ;  was  a  most  profound  philosopher ;  had 
mastered  most  of  the  human  literature  of  the  age; 


280  RESTORATION   OF   CORRESPONDENCES. 

deeply  investigated  the  laws  of  matter  in  the  mineral, 
vegetable,  and  animal  kingdoms ;  had  traced  the  econ- 
omy of  the  human  body  np  to  the  soul,  and  nature  up 
to  God  ;  and  had  rationally  seen  something  of  the  rela- 
tion between  mind  and  matter,  and  the  laws  of  creation. 
In  this  way,  his  natural  mind  had  become  a  sincere  and 
open  vessel,  adapted  to  the  reception  of  spiritual  truth ; 
and  his  active  soul  was  thirsting  for  something  higher, 
and  looking  up  to  receive  it.  And  thus,  at  the  mature 
age  of  fifty-five  years — ripe  in  natural  goodness  and 
truth,  and  in  scientific  and  literary  wisdom — he  was 
prepared  to  enter  upon  the  divine  study  of  the  Holy 
Word  in  its  spiritual  sense. 

In  this  divine  study  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of 
his  spirit,  so  that  he  gradually  came,  while  in  the  flesh, 
into  a  state  of  free,  open,  and  sensible  consciousness 
of  spiritual  society  and  scenery,  and  this  by  a  process 
of  such  perfect  mental  growth  and  development,  ac- 
cording to  divine  order,  that,  when  his  spiritual  senses 
had  become  clearly  opened  to  the  spiritual  world,  they 
were  permanently  so  ;  because  his  views  of  that  world 
were  not  surface  and  uncertain  views,  presented  from 
a  disordered  or  inflated  imagination,  but  they  were 
scientific  views.  He  saw  and  understood  the  law  by 
which  spiritual  forms  are  manifested,  and  this  law  he 
found  in  the  Holy  Word.  It  is  the  SCIENCE  OF  CORRE- 
SPONDENCES, in  which  the  Word  is  written,  and  which 
he  labored  to  make  known  to  the  world ;  and,  in  the 
ardent  exercise  of  this  benevolent  desire  to  give  it  freely 
to  his  fellow-man,  his  soul  was  rationally  opened  to  re- 
ceive it  from  the  Lord. 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  281 

Twenty-nine  years  of  intense  application  were  de- 
voted to  this  work,  in  which  he  presented  to  mankind 
twenty  massive  volumes,  opening  and  expounding  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  and  specifically  recording  his  illus- 
trations, and  the  Science  of  Correspondences  by  which 
they  are  explained.  This  he  did  in  the  most  modest 
and  quiet  manner,  without  any  startling  miracles  or 
outward  displays  of  power,  but  in  a  deep,  calm,  and 
contemplative  state  of  mind  ;  looking  prayerfully  and 
confidingly  to  the  Lord  while  reading  the  Word. 

In  this  way,  the  Science  of  Correspondences,  and  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  and  its  doctrines,  have  been 
presented  to  the  world.  But  who  has  done  it  ?  Cer- 
tainly not  Swedenborg,  but  the  Lord  Himself.  Swe- 
denborg  never,  in  all  these  volumes,  gives  us  so  much 
as  a  single  opinion  of  his  own  upon  the  meaning  of  the 
Word  or  its  doctrines,  or  of  the  Science  of  Correspond- 
ences ;  but  the  illustrations  are  so  given  as  to  make 
the  Word  itself  its  own  interpreter.  It  is  the  Lord, 
therefore,  and  not  Swedenborg,  that  speaks  to  the  heart 
and  the  head  of  the  reader  of  these  volumes.  Yet 
Swedenborg  was  not  inspired.  He  acted  not  as  an 
amanuensis,  as  did  the  prophets.  He  freely  saw  and 
understood  what  he  wrote.  He  knew  it  was  true  ;  but 
he  knew,  also,  that  it  was  not,  one  particle  of  it,  his 
own  wisdom  ;  and  he  was  far  from  claiming  it. 

These  twenty  volumes,  therefore,  in  their  explana- 
tions of  the  Word  and  its  doctrines,  become  to  the  un- 
derstanding reader  positive  and  conclusive  evidence  of 
their  own  truth  and  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Word.  They 
call  in  an  array  of  testimony  which  carries  everything 


282  RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES. 

before  it.  They  call  our  own  internal  selves  and  expe- 
rience on  to  the  stand,  with  all  our  evils,  and  all  we 
know  of  human  nature,  and  make  them  cry  out,  Amen  ! 
They  call  in  to  their  support  all  the  truths  of  science 
and  art.  Indeed,  they  call  in  everything, — the  vast 
universe  of  mind  and  matter,  and  the  law  of  analogy 
between  them.  Everything  in  nature,  from  the  small- 
est dust  of  the  earth  to  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  bears 
testimony  in  these  volumes  to  the  truth  of  the  Word, 
and  the  divinity  of  its  Author  ;  proving,  beyond  a 
doubt,  that  the  Creator  of  the  universe  is  the  Author 
of  the  Holy  Word  ;  that  the  spiritual  truths  of  the* 
Word  are  the  Divine  Wisdom  by  which  Grod  created 
and  sustains  the  universe  ;  and  that  the  universe  now 
stands  in  relation  to  that  wisdom,  as  effects  to  causes. 
All  this  is  satisfactorily  proved  by  the  law  of  analogy 
which  pervades  the  whole  Word.  Man  therefore  rests 
in  the  evidence  of  these  volumes,  as  God's  own  testi- 
mony of  the  truth  of  His  Word  ;  for  by  them  the 
Lord  opens  the  seals  of  every  mind  that  reads  and  un- 
derstands them  :  and  as  man  turns  from  his  evils,  and 
yields  his  heart  to  this  light,  the  Lord  gradually  puri- 
fies and  elevates  his  thoughts  and  feelings  above  false- 
hoods and  evils  to  heavenly  light  and  life. 

What  a  vast  work  this  Science  of  Correspondences, 
and  the  consequent  influent  spiritual  light  from  the 
Word,  have  laid  out  before  them  !  It  is  nothing  less 
than  the  entire  revolutionizing  of  the  whole  mental 
world  on  earth,  and  the  restoring  of  all  things  to  order, 
— an  entire  change  of  all  man's  views  of  Grod,  of  man, 
and  of  nature  ;  placing  man  in  an  entirely  new  posi- 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  283 

tion,  where  he  will  see  with  new  eyes  and  in  a  new 
light,  and;  by  obedience,  will  learn  to  feel  with  a  new 
heart. 

The  starting  point  in  this  elevation  is  a  true  thought 
of  God — some  ray  of  light  from  the  Great  Divine 
Centre  into  the  rational  faculty,  presenting  some  true 
idea  of  God's  nature  and  character.  In  the  light  of 
this  idea,  presented  to  man's  rational  consciousness, 
lies  the  whole  revolutionizing  power.  As  we  read  the 
Holy  Word  in  the  light  of  this  idea,  that  light  bright- 
ens and  expands  into  the  Sun  of  Righteousnessj  and 
becomes,  indeed,  the  Jehovah  God  ;  and  we  then  see 
Him  to  be  Love,  Wisdom,  and  Power,  in  union  as  a 
whole.  And  we  see  this  Love,  Wisdom,  and  Power 
ever  going  out  from  the  centre  of  the  universe,  creating, 
sustaining,  and  giving  life  to  everything.  We  see  in 
this  divine  character  no  change  or  shadow  of  turning, 
but  infinite  and  equal  mercy  towards  all. 

In  this  divine  light,  the  Holy  Word  presents  us  with 
a  new  Author,  and  with  new  doctrines,  differing  in 
every  particular  from  those  entertained  by  mankind  a 
hundred  years  ago.  Indeed,  then,  does  the  Lord,  at 
His  second  coming,  "  make  all  things  new."  He 
makes  us  sec  all  His  own  creations  and  doings  to  be 
good,  and  all  evil  as  springing  from  man  :  therefore  we 
sec  man  filling  and  going  astray,  and  God  fol.owing  him 
up  to  save  him.  But,  as  we  see  that  man  could  not 
fall  without  the  free  exercise  of  his  own  will  and  judg- 
ment, so  also  we  see  that  he  cannot  rise  without  their 
free  exercise.  God  gives  to  man  the  power  to  turn 
from  his  evil  way,  and  live.  This  power  is  in  the 


284    RESTORATION  OF  CORRESPONDENCES. 

truth,  which  man  sees.  The  starting-point  in  this 
change  is  the  truth  so  presented  to  his  mind  that  his 
own  free-will  and  judgment  tell  him  that  the  thoughts, 
feelings  and  actions  in  which  he  is  indulging  are  wrong, 
and  lead  to  misery  and  death.  The  regenerating  power 
that  this  truth  really  contains  is  in  the  light  that  it 
brings  of  God's  true  nature,  telling  us  we  must  be  like 
Him,  and  that  in  Him  is  our  only  dependence  and  help. 
This  light  the  Science  of  Correspondences  everywhere 
forcibly  presents  to  view  in  the  Holy  Word.  Hence 
the  regenerating  power  of  the  Lord  at  His  second 
coming. 

The  Science  of  Correspondences  keeps  God's  glorious 
and  merciful  character  before  us  in  every  page  of  the 
Word,  and  it  shows  us  what  is  meant  by  everything 
that  the  literal  sense  seems  to  present  of  Him  of  a  dif- 
ferent character.  It  shows  why  the  Word  was  so  writ- 
ten, and  the  use  ;  and  both  senses  become  thereby  per- 
fectly harmonious.  Thus  we  see  that  the  literal  truth 
of  the  Word  flowing  into  an  angry  man's  mind,  pre- 
sents the  merciful  God  to  him  as  angry  :  just  as  the 
light  which  falls  upon  a  crooked  and  imperfect  mirror 
reflects  a  beautiful  face  as  distorted  and  ugly.  The 
anger  is  in  the  man,  as  the  imperfection  is  in  the  glass. 
The  bad  man  looks  at  the  truth  which  condemns  him, 
as  his  enemy  ;  when  it  is  really  his  friend  in  effort  to 
save  him. 

Thus  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  according  to 
prophecy,  has  prevailed  to  open  the  Book,  and  loose 
the  seals  of  God's  Holy  Word  ;  and  has  mercifully 
given  to  the  world  the  Divine  Science  of  Corresponden- 


RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES.  285 

ces — the  grand  key  which  opens  the  door  to  that  foun- 
tain of, wisdom  which  is  to  bring  the  world  into  order. 

These  twenty  volumes,  with  the  Holy  Word  which 
they  open,  will  yet  stand  before  the  world  as  the  great 
test  by  which  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  every  new  sys- 
tem, creed,  or  practice,  which  may  spring  up  in  this 
fruitful  age  of  wonders,  will  be  tried.  All  sects  and 
parties  will  yet  come  to  these  volumes,  and  the  Divine 
"Word,  for  light ;  and  their  decision  will  be  peremptory 
and  final  :  for  there  will  be  found  nothing  substantial 
upon  which  to  base  an  argument  against  them.  They 
will  be  regarded  as  the  Great  Universal  Body  of  Di- 
vinity, the  true  standard  of  all  wisdom,  the  basis  of  all 
law  and  order.  Nothing  can  supplant  them  ;  for  they 
centre  everything  in  God.  Nothing  can  rise  above 
them  ;  for  they  give  to  God  the  highest  excellence. 
No  truth  can  oppose  them  ;  for  they  are  the  fountain 
and  embodiment  of  all  truth.  The  doctrines  they  pre- 
sent are  one  harmonious  whole,  with  Jesus  in  the 
midst.  Their  tendency  is  to  snow  man  his  sins  in  such 
a  light  as  to  convince  him  that  they  are  his  certain  de- 
struction, and  then  to  show  him  how  to  get  rid  of 
them  in  a  way  so  plain  that  he  cannot  mistake  it.  This 
is  their  universal  tendency,  and  in  this  great  work  they 
must  in  due  time  succeed  ;  purifying,  regenerating, 
and  making  happy,  the  whole  human  family  on  earth. 
What  this  due  time  will  be,  no  one  can  tell.  The  race 
was  many  thousands  of  years  in  foiling  from  the  alpha 
of  its  existence  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  down  to  the 
omega  of  our  nature  at  the  divine  incarnation.  It  may 
take  as  many  thousands  of  years  to  bring  us  up  to  full 


286  RESTORATION    OF    CORRESPONDENCES. 

millenial  life  and  glory  :  but  the  movement  must  ever 
be  with  accelerating  force  and  influence  ;  for  its  sphere 
is  amid  free  and  active  minds,  first  enlightening  the 
understanding,  and  then  gaining  the  heart.  And  all  it 
gains  it  holds  forever.  And  its  final  success  is  certain  : 
for  the  Lord  declares  of  it,  that  "  God  shall  wipe  away- 
all  tears  from  their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying." — "  And  there  shall 
bo  no  more  saying,  every  man  to  his  neighbor,  Know 
ye  the  Lord  ;  for  all  shall  know  Him,  from  the  least 
unto  the  greatest :  for  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  hath 
spoken  it# 


EXD. 


0  . 

/> 


